How to rent affordable housing in New York using the lottery: step by step instructions

The New York City Housing Authority regularly conducts lottery on the right to rent available apartments in different areas of the city. In June 2020, the city launched a new, improved site that will make it easier than ever to apply for affordable housing.

Now site visitors can view the available lotteries on smartphones and download the necessary documents online.

Site NYC Housing Connect, launched in 2013, is a centralized internet portal that hosts a large number of affordable housing units in all five boroughs of the city. Applications are selected through a lottery, since there are more people willing to rent affordable housing than apartments. Since its launch, the system has received over 25 million applications for approximately 40 housing units.

How to apply for available housing

The main qualifying factor is the applicant's income level. Each lottery has its own. And even if your family earns several hundred thousand a year, you can still qualify for some housing units.

The website allows New Yorkers to create personalized profiles and calculate which open lotteries are available to them based on their income level. To do this, you need to register and enter data about yourself by clicking on the corresponding icon in upper right corner of the site.

Here in the form of short videos, the process of registration on the site and entering data about yourself is described.

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Now NYC Housing Connect 24 lotteries are open for renting affordable housing, they can be sorted by the number of days left until the lottery closes. After you have chosen the lottery you like and made sure that you meet the requirements, you need to submit an application before the expiration of the lottery.

The application process is extremely simple

On the search page, all active lotteries are displayed as cards. The card displays the most important details of the project, so when searching there is no need to open each of them and view each lottery in detail. Remember that you are not applying for a specific housing unit, but for a lottery that can consist of several types of units. The description of the lottery provides an overview of the development, the offered apartments are presented in detail, the location of the housing is shown on the map.

To apply for participation in the lottery, click on its card. The Available Apartments and Requirements table displays details of housing units based on household size and income. Review this list to make sure your family profile falls within the income range listed there.

If you fit, click "Apply Now"... Based on your profile, the application will display your household size and income. Read the terms and conditions and click Submit... Everything! The application has been submitted!

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If you have uploaded all the necessary documents when registering a profile, then the site will not ask for additional data. If not, you may need to upload some documents to prove your income and family size.

Track status

By applying to participate in the lottery through Housing Connect, you can always track its status. To do this, go to the control panel (at the bottom home page). There you will find My Application Summary and Action Needed tabs. They will guide you through the steps involved in promoting your application and the need to upload additional documents or data.

What's next

If your application is selected and you meet the income requirements, you will be invited for an interview. Usually, after submitting an application, you have to wait from two to ten months. At the meeting, interested persons must bring documents confirming the size of their family, information on income and property.