This is just my opinion, but...

The sooner your can afford honest rent the better. The effort required to maintain a relationship for a "free" situation is far greater than it would be to fix a few bikes every month and sell them for rent. Not to mention they will eventually kick out out when they find someone else who is willing to pay. From the point of view of a landlord, rent money is better than tax write-offs, and if your landlord is uncle sam -- they don't need write-offs.

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate situation, Wajid. NBW has been in a similar arrangement for free space in the past, though not in as beautiful and airy looking space as the one shown on your web site. Now we pay rent at our two locations, though at one of them it's much below market. Still, depending on the deal, I would certainly opt for a free space again if I had the chance. Our free situation was with the University of Pennsylvania which provided space for over two years in an area where the rent would have been over a thousand a month for the amount of space we had. Our presence benefited the University in certain ways--enhanced their image as a community partner, gave youth in the neighborhood something to do, kept the building secure, made the area better for biking etc, and may have been some kind of a tax write off for them for all I know.

Just before checking my e-mail now I was talking to the E.D. of a local community development corporation and he offered us drastically reduced rent ( I think we might be able to get it for nothing, actually) in a disused building that will be demolished as part of one his plans in the near future (two years). This kind of property is very hard to rent to a regular business, and situations like this may exist in your city. Of course, there are major drawbacks, the main one being that you have to leave in a few years. I don't totally agree with Jonathan because I think it is possible to have a situation where you're not paying rent and there is a firm and productive understanding between parties. That was the case with NBW and U-Penn, and would be the case in the (unlikely) event that we expand into this space offered by the CDC I was talking about. Perhaps your agency is at a point in its development that would allow a planned move in another couple of years. Also, some arrangements that are not the same as a usual money for space lease can give you more freedom, not less. What I mean is that if you are partnering with some other agency you might become valuable to them in a way that you would never be to a regular landlord. That is certainly the case for NBW in the church we now inhabit at our main location. I feel I have some clout that adds up to more than just being a check to them every month because our program enhances the image of their church and is consistent with their charitable and social change missions. (even though we're not part of the God mission)

If you haven't done so, one thing you could do is look for agencies larger than yours in your city (hopefully there are some that you dig) and who could benefit from your presence. You could write proposals to them that they house you. It could be more or less work than paying a landlord, and may not be possible if part of what makes the whole thing worthwhile to you is being able be punk as fuck, or at least punk as summink or other. In my opinion people should be paying you to be in their building (I certainly take that attitude regarding NBW!) but it is not likely that a municipality will take that stance if what matters to you is having a "Support terrorism" poster, having your dogs run around, setting fire to things and tagging the building. We have definitely modified our personal styles in order to partner with a greater diversity of allies here in Philly, and those relationships have, in many cases allowed us to do things we ( at least some of the board and staff) didn't even think of when we started.

Keep us posted as to what goes down. Good luck!

Andy