Artist Space Trust opens affordable housing applications in San Francisco

Artist Space Trust, a Berkeley-based nonprofit, has opened applications for Celadon House, a duplex in San Francisco’s Mission District. This property serves as the inaugural site for the organization’s Artist Housing Commons network, a collection of homes and creative spaces designed to provide permanent affordability for Bay Area artists.

The nonprofit utilizes a community land trust model, where the organization retains land ownership while selling homes to qualified buyers at significantly below market rates. The first unit is being offered for less than one-third of its appraised value.

To qualify, applicants must be first-time homebuyers in households of two to seven people with incomes not exceeding 80% of the area median income. Applications remain open through November 22. The organization was established in 2023 with support from Vital Arts to address housing precarity for artists, a need underscored by the 2016 Ghost Ship fire in Oakland.