{"id":1010600,"date":"2026-08-19T10:51:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T10:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1010600\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T10:51:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T10:51:54","slug":"a-joke-website-putting-artists-in-pieds-a-terre-may-go-legit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1010600\/","title":{"rendered":"A Joke Website Putting Artists in Pieds-\u00e0-terre May Go Legit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n This $75-million apartment on the market is at 220 Central Park South, an address Zohran Mamdani called out when introducing his tax on luxury second homes because it is where Ken Griffin keeps a $238-million pied-\u00e0-terre.
\n Photo: Corcoran\n <\/p>\n

When comedian Madison Walser launched Aura Investments<\/a>, it was basically a glorified shitpost. Mayor Zohran Mamdani had recently announced his proposed pied-\u00e0-terre tax<\/a>, and Walser, who splits her time between New York and Los Angeles, decided to vibe code a website pitching a version of TrustedHousesitters for second homeowners. The website reads, \u201cYou own a home in New York. You cannot always be there. Why should you be taxed for being successful?\u201d <\/strong>It offers: \u201cNew York\u2019s artists are here for you. Your solution to the vacancy tax.\u201d A participating homeowner not only gets to dodge the taxes by hosting artists but also gets the chance to accrue major \u201caura\u201d points.<\/p>\n

It seems, however, that some of the city\u2019s pied-\u00e0-terre owners might not have gotten the joke. Since the site went live in May<\/a>, Walser says she has received queries from people claiming to own second homes in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Artists also sent in their own applications (why not?). I spoke with Walser about her joke being taken seriously and what could be next for the project.<\/p>\n

Why did you create this website in the first place?<\/strong>
I had done, like, a year of traveling and lived basically everywhere, just taking care of people\u2019s pets. When the pied-\u00e0-terre tax thing came out, I made a joke<\/a> on Threads that, because I have such a big heart, I\u2019m willing to sign a lease and live in the property of someone who\u2019s avoiding the tax so they don\u2019t have to pay it. My background is in software development, and I\u2019ve been playing around with AI coding tools, so I was like, Let me just code something real quick. A friend was like, \u201cWait, can I post this on my page?\u201d I was like, \u201cSure, why not?\u201d And it just blew up<\/a>. I think we\u2019re close to 4,000 submissions.<\/p>\n

\n

Wait, 4,000 homeowners?<\/strong>
Not for properties, just for artists. For properties, we had 25, and after I checked, we had eight or nine that were legitimate. The details I\u2019ve heard from homeowners who\u2019ve emailed are very basic, just \u201cI have a balcony, it\u2019s three bedrooms, it\u2019s in Manhattan.\u201d I think one person sent me photos, but I have not asked for their addresses yet.<\/p>\n

How do you feel about the mayor\u2019s pied-\u00e0-terre tax on homes worth $5 million or more?\u00a0<\/strong>
It just doesn\u2019t solve the housing crisis. I understand needing the cash flow, but people need to be able to afford places. Even if all these $5 million-plus properties get released onto the market, you think it\u2019s trickle-down economics of housing? Nobody who needs a house can afford to even rent these places. I wasn\u2019t intending on becoming a housing expert, but obviously I started to learn more about it now that I\u2019m in it.<\/p>\n

So is Aura Investments actually going to do something with all these submissions and potential units?<\/strong>
I\u2019m trying to get a lawyer, and I\u2019m also trying to bring my friend on as a co-founder to help me think through how this would work. The biggest things are legal and safety. Both sides have to get a background check, and I have to make sure you\u2019re not some sketchball. We have to verify that you actually own the property. Then I have to get a leasing agent who makes sure the artists have tenants\u2019 rights. I\u2019m not just throwing these people in there on, like, a vacation. There would need to be a lease in place so the owners could not use the unit unless that was specified in their contract.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Aura Investments\n <\/p>\n

So are artists living in these homes rent free in exchange for relieving homeowners of potential tax bills?<\/strong>
A lot of this is still in ideation. But I worked out a couple of models for how this could play out: (a) It\u2019s entirely free for the artists and then the people who own the property would pay a placement fee that\u2019s 10 percent of the money they would pay on the tax. That would cover our operations costs, but we would also put some of that money into a fund that we could redistribute to artists or other causes. And (b) the artists will live there, but they have to pay the utility bills.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a back scratch for both sides. If you frame it to the wealthy as \u201cHey, we\u2019re actually doing you a favor,\u201d it stops making poor people look like they\u2019re less than. On the other hand, it actually puts people in units and frees up all the housing these artists live in.<\/p>\n

You obviously think this is a good idea. But is this quid pro quo arrangement maybe a bit antithetical to what the policy intends to do?\u00a0<\/strong>
The city recently released<\/a> a warning that was like, \u201cIf we find out that you entered a lease agreement with the sole intention of avoiding the tax, that\u2019s not valid.\u201d My narcissistic ass is like, They definitely saw the website.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m guessing this would go kaput based on these new policies?\u00a0<\/strong>
Unless I somehow got a meeting with the mayor himself and was like, \u201cOkay, hear me out,\u201d which I\u2019m not opposed to doing.<\/p>\n

But this is more than just helping people avoid the pied-\u00e0-terre tax. Some random person in France was saying, \u201cHey, we have this cottage that we let artists live in sometimes. We\u2019d be down to do that.\u201d California is trying<\/a> to pass a commercial-vacancy tax to fill vacant storefronts \u2014 so how do we get people who have smaller businesses to be able to do a pop-up for two months? How do we get these spaces to be actually helpful for people who could use them?<\/p>\n

I see your website references the Medicis as inspiration. Do you think it was better when the rich-rich were artists\u2019 patrons and covered their living costs?\u00a0<\/strong>
Michelangelo, court artisans \u2014 all these things happened because someone was bankrolling them. Nepo babies are in art because someone is bankrolling their lives so they have time to focus on something that is not guaranteed to provide you money back. I\u2019m calling this art patronage of the 21st century.<\/p>\n

Did you go into this thinking you might actually create an actual tool for addressing the housing crisis in some small way?\u00a0<\/strong>
It was all a joke with the intention of, like, \u201cDamn, this would be really cool if we could make this happen.\u201d My goal now is to match one person with one house. If I can do that, this is successful, in my opinion, and it can grow from there.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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