NYC Housing Connect: What It Is, How the Housing Lottery Works, and How It Can Be Fixed
Introduction: Understanding NYC Housing Connect
Have you ever heard someone say they won "the housing lottery" but not known what they really meant?
NYC Housing Connect – often referred to as "the housing lottery" – operates as a portal to help New York City residents find and apply for affordable housing. The organization allows individuals to sign up for a raffle, with the prize being moving into an affordable housing unit. The units vary in price and optionality depending on your household size, asset limit, and annual income. NYC Housing Connect's mission aligns with Civic Reset's, and we're here to demystify the process.
Available Home Types on NYC Housing Connect
So what type of units can be won in the lottery? Well, while the technical programs behind them are complex, all Housing Connect listings fall into one of five simple categories:
1. Affordable units inside new luxury or mixed-income buildings
These are the famous "lottery units" created when developers receive zoning bonuses or tax incentives in exchange for reserving a percentage of apartments at regulated rents.
2. New buildings that are entirely affordable
These developments, usually financed through federal tax credits and city subsidies, offer multiple income tiers and serve a broad range of low and moderate-income households.
3. Preserved or rehabilitated affordable housing in older buildings
Sometimes existing rent-stabilized buildings undergo rehabilitation or sign new affordability agreements. When units turn over, they enter the lottery.
4. Deeply affordable project-based subsidized housing
These include Section 8 buildings, HUD-regulated housing, or senior/supportive housing developments that must fill vacancies through public lotteries.
5. Special-purpose affordable housing
Targeted programs for seniors, veterans, individuals with disabilities, faith-based or community-land-trust developments, and other groups.
How to Qualify for These Homes
Each building charges different monthly rates depending on the renter's annual income, assets, household size, and the unit size (by number of bedrooms). Units range from very-low income at ~30% AMI (renters making 30% of the area median income) to 165% AMI.
Renters applying to the housing lottery never have to pay fees to apply; A landlord may however request that a potential renter pays $20 for a one-time background check. Beyond initial income and household size requirements, tenants must pass a series of checks to qualify for the apartment. The tenant screening process contains a credit check, background check, and rental history verification, to determine whether you would make a "good tenant."
NYC Housing Lottery: Myths vs. Reality
If you're still confused or simply looking for a brief run-down, here are a few quick facts:
There is no universal waitlist.
Every building has its own separate lottery and application.
Applying once does not improve your chances.
Each new listing is a fresh, unrelated lottery.
Credit and background checks still matter.
Management companies use standard tenant screening criteria.
"Winning" doesn't mean getting a free apartment.
It means qualifying for a regulated unit with fixed income rules.
Why This System Exists
Although the process can feel confusing or arbitrary, the lottery exists to serve a simple purpose: to distribute a limited number of affordable units in a way that prevents discrimination and ensures equal access. Instead of letting developers handpick tenants or allowing first-come, first-served chaos, the lottery provides a standardized system for income verification, fair screening, and transparent eligibility. In theory, it protects renters and preserves affordability across a city where demand dramatically exceeds supply.
Ownership Opportunities Through NYC Housing Connect
While Housing Connect focuses primarily on rentals, opportunities to purchase homes occasionally arise. Winning an ownership opportunity is substantially rarer than a rental opportunity – but it does happen. These homes are generally made up of income-restricted condos and co-ops (buildings where you buy shares in an owning corporation instead of owning your apartment directly), and are created by the same programs that produce affordable rentals. Despite being highly competitive and far less common than rentals, these for-sale listings still provide a rare path to ownership for moderate-income New Yorkers who would otherwise be priced out.
Issues With the NYC Housing Lottery System
In 2024 alone, Housing Connect received six million applications for just 10,000 available units. On top of the low probability of actually winning the lottery, from entering the lottery to moving into your new home, the entire process is incredibly bureaucratic.
Some findings from the New York City Citizens Housing & Planning Council state:
On average, it takes 371 days to fill all the units in a NYC Housing Lottery
One in three housing lotteries did not begin until months after a building was already ready for occupancy, resulting in units sitting empty despite being ready to house New Yorkers
It takes 430 days on average from when residents begin applying to the lottery for all the units to be filled
Some of the required background check documents include but are not limited to proof of income (recent pay stubs or employment verification), last year's tax returns and W-2s, government-issued IDs and Social Security cards for all adults, birth certificates for minors, several months of bank statements, and — for applicants paid in cash — notarized letters and supporting deposit records.
feeling the impact, a commenter on a Reddit thread titled "How long until move in after being selected in the housing lottery" reports the following experience:
"I applied for an apartment in Brooklyn in 2022, In 2024 they said my log number has been reached and to submit my documents, just yesterday 4/24/25 they said I've been selected for further processing and to send in my shopping letter for the housing voucher, which I have, and also the caseworker info and formal proof of current address, which I also have, what should I expect after this?"
On top of long wait times and irrationally complex background checks, "affordable" units aren't really affordable. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) currently defines 100% AMI as $113,400 for single individuals and $145,800 for 3-person families. However, the real median household income in New York City is $79,713. Therefore, many "low-income" apartments in the housing lottery are actually fit for the average NYC salary. This leads to inflation in expected income, making even "affordable" housing less affordable than it should be.
Proposed Solutions
1.) Replace AMI with Neighborhood-Specific AMI
Including luxurious neighborhood incomes as part of AMI, a determinant of rent prices, skews the definition of affordability. HUD uses regional AMI, including neighborhoods like Westchester that inflate definitions of AMI.
Replacing Housing Connect's definitions of AMI would:
- Lower artificially inflated rent levels
- Align affordability with real neighborhood incomes
- Make "affordable housing" prices actually affordable
- Ensure units serve the communities they're built in
2.) Create a Universal Application
The seemingly most obvious fix to the NYC Housing Connect system is a universal application. Similar to the Common Application System for applying to college, a system that allows tenants to upload all of their documents one time and then choose which homes to apply to would be tremendously helpful. Instead of uploading 20–40 documents, verify them once, and then reuse them for every application.
This immediately:
- Reduces citywide processing time
- Lowers management overhead
- Eliminates repetitive documentation errors
- Speeds up matching process
3.) Require Buildings to Begin Lotteries Before Construction Ends
1 in 3 lotteries start after a building is already ready for occupancy — causing units to sit empty for months. A rule requiring lotteries to begin 90–120 days before completion would keep units from sitting vacant and shorten applicant waiting periods.
4.) Mandate Timeline Transparency
Current move-in timelines are incredibly opaque. There are no required expected dates at any stage, and when timelines are provided, they're often last-minute and inconsistently followed. Applicants are left guessing whether their documents are being reviewed, how far the building has progressed, or when units might become available.
Buildings should be required to publish:
- Estimated review timelines
- The ranking numbers currently being processed
- The number of units left to fill
- Expected move-in dates
This would eliminate the current "black box" experience, reduce applicant anxiety, and bring basic accountability to a system that millions of New Yorkers rely on.
Conclusion
As CivicReset, our goal is to push for reforms that bring clarity, accountability, and true affordability back into the system — because a fair housing lottery should be more than a stroke of luck. It should be a pathway to stability for the people who make this city work. Follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates and join the fight for affordable housing.
Written by: Farid Sofiyev
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