starving artist

I suppose because of the horrifying and tragic fire in Oakland there has been a lot of conversation about DIY spaces and the need for living environments for artists and "creative people." While important, I rarely see the conversation get extrapolated to the broader need for affordable housing for the poor and working class. Even when the issue gets mentioned it is about how the rent prices and lack of housing affect the "creative types." There is no self-awareness in this strange distinction - the very focus on the concept of "artist" as a way of framing the conversation performs the function separating all "creative types" from any sort of poor underclass, rather then emphasize solidarity with the larger swath of society that faces the same economic turmoil. "I have no money and no place to live either, but since I am an artist, my needs are more immediate." There is something distinctly white/suburban/middle-class about this assumption - and indeed such a distinction is a way to maintain one's place within a class hierarchy while simultaneously rejecting it.  Further contributing to this strange lack of self-awareness is the presumption that the people who self identify as "artists" or "creative" are the only ones who create art in actual practice, but some of the most talented and creative people I know have "regular jobs" and live "regular lives." A lot of the talk about "DIY Spaces" seems to me an attempt at justification of crossing class lines in the face of bourgeois values while never actually challenging said values.  "No dad, I'm not homeless!  It's a DIY space!"  
Saying all that, those that know me know how much I value the arts and the people who devote their lives to them. However I would just like to inject a little context into the situation. I understand that the conversation here is about subculture and in a way, subversion. The benefit of DIY spaces as I see it is that they seem to fuse the "third-space" with the home and foment all sorts of fruitful inspiration and collaboration. I am looking for a deeper examination of the structural elements that create such a dearth of dignified, safe and sustainable living spaces (and thereby the impetus to create one's own, wonderful as the result may be) and how it affects an entire class of people, of which most artists are a part... and then of course how do we fix these problems, specifically?