Housing Lotteries
As the commercials for the other lottery say, you never know!
Housing Lotteries Offer Chance
at Affordable Housing.
The
New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (“HPD”) is a
massive city agency that affects almost all of the housing stock in New York
City in one way or another.
Among
other activities, HPD works with real estate developers and community sponsors
to make subsidized rental apartments available. There is never a broker’s fee
or an application fee. But you have to know about it to make use of it.
Current
housing lotteries are listed on HPD’s website:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/apartment/lotteries.shtml.
This web page is the first one listed when you google the phrase “NYC HPD
housing lottery”.
Go
to the HPD lottery page today and you’ll see offerings in all five boroughs. You
can see the lotteries in a list, and you can also see their locations displayed
on a map by clicking the “map of rental lotteries” link.
In
Brooklyn, as I write this, there are two available lotteries: one in
Williamsburg and one in Coney Island. Click on the link to the advertisement
for the Williamsburg lottery and you’ll see that several one and two-bedroom
apartments are being offered. There are instructions for applying online or by
mail.
If
affordable housing lotteries are of interest to you, you should check often for
new offerings. You must also keep in mind that there are application deadlines,
and the number of applicants will generally be much higher than the number of
apartments.
You
can increase your chances of finding out about upcoming lotteries as soon possible
by signing up for email alerts. There is a link on the main lottery web page
for that purpose.
Applying
for a rental lottery is a process. There are forms to fill out, and you must be
able to document your financial position. This is not a solution if you need a
new place to live immediately. But if you have time to plan your move, an
affordable lottery could be just the ticket. You never know.
