Editor,
Thank you for “Critics Unhappy with Short Term Rentals at Project Artaud,” in the March 2025 View. Unfortunately, the article had several significant omissions.
As a nonprofit, Project Artaud “members” aren’t supposed to profit from the building. This is stipulated in lease agreements and the original founding documents from 1971.
Project Artaud’s former Board of Directors president and his partner have a commercial live/workspace on the first floor, and a residential live/workspace on the third floor. The former board president drafted a lease for the commercial space in 2011 which states that he’s both a Project Artaud “member and nonmember.” As a “nonmember” he’s able to earn income from the commercial space, often advertised on Airbnb at $3,500 a month. The former board president has had more than 516 guests stay in his first floor Airbnb since 2013.
He was board president from 2019 to 2023. His partner was also on the board during that time. In 2021, he was president when his ten-year lease was up for renewal. There’s no accessible record of a discussion or vote about the renewal, which is now “automatically renewing”, according to Board Treasurer John Sullivan.
While on the Board, the former president persistently advocated for increasing executive board members’ honorarium. Payments to the four renumerated board members are now 50 percent higher than in 2019.
Many of my friends have had to leave San Francisco over the last 25 years. Until I moved into Artaud, I didn’t have long term housing security, lived in apartments with multiple roommates, and possible displacement was a low level, persistent stressor.
Project Artaud housing needs to be made available to the City’s active, creative, diverse, and/or younger populations. There must be a transparent and consistent process for membership. Right now, every wing of Project Artaud has their own, often secret, interview and selection process.
There’s been a longstanding commitment to racial and cultural homogeneity for prospective Project Artaud members. The comfort of current residents and the “familiarity” of potential applicants is often prioritized over accomplishment, or how potential members can contribute to the building’s community.
To have a living and/or workspace in Project Artaud is a privilege. The spaces shouldn’t be used for profit or personal gain. Landlords and/or homeowners who live here should pay more. Inactive artists shouldn’t be allowed to keep spaces empty for decades.
Mansur Nurullah
Project Artaud member