Why do you live in London? For most Londoners (80 per cent according to City Hall), it’s the desire to be where things are happening, where culture is being created and smalltown freaks have moved to be free to express themselves in a mostly supportive (or at worst, indifferent) environment.
At the heart of this soft power are artists. They catalyse that indefinable allure of London that makes everyone from students to financiers want to stay – even with a less favourable tax regime.
And yet, this cool – which has as many cold hard financial benefits as it does intangible atmospheric ones – is under threat as never before.
New research shows a third of artists think they will be forced out of the career within five years, while almost half are unable to save or pay into a pension plan.
Unsurprisingly, rent rises for studios and housing are one of the major driving forces behind this looming exodus.
In addition, artists who move to areas while they are gritty and unloved, creating a buzz that eventually draws the developers find themselves priced (and often forced) out of regenerated areas. Just look at Hackney Wick, or the threatened Haringey Warehouse District.
There are initiatives happening across the city to combat this.
City Hall is extending its Creative Enterprise Zones, while A House For Artists by Apparata Architects recently won a RIBA award for its affordable, sustainable live-work spaces in Barking.
But no matter how good, those 12 units will not save the arts on their own, while schemes created to provide inexpensive studio space are only useful if artists can also afford to live nearby.
From key workers to creatives, we will lose the fundamental pillars that make our city work if we keep failing to contain the housing crisis.
