Inside the Midwest Housing Revolution Giving Artists an Affordable Path to Ownership

A St. Louis organization is working to revitalize lower- to moderate-income neighborhoods through art—but with a radical twist.​Traditionally, artists move into underinvested neighborhoods, add cultural value, and are subsequently priced out when market-rate developers swoop in.The Art Place Initiative (API) is rewriting that script by helping local artists buy the homes they live and work in.​“For us, artists contributing to the wealth of a neighborhood, but then being the first to be displaced from that neighborhood, is exactly the trend that we are attempting to supersede,” Kaveh Razani, a real estate development consultant for API, told Realtor.com.​Founded in 2019, API was created in response to the Gravois-Jefferson Historic Neighborhoods Plan, a community-driven master plan that called for increased arts amenities, affordable housing solutions, nonprofit models to preserve long-term affordability, and transitioning renters into homeownership in St. Louis neighborhoods.​The foundation was brought together by three organizations: the Incarnate Word Foundation, the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, and the Regional Arts Commission.Loading...​Founded in 2019, API was created in respons...