Tuesday, May 13`, 2025
Year : 2, Issue: 37
by Shane O’Brien, AMNY
New York City’s housing crisis is no secret and the city’s low-cost housing landscape remains extremely difficult to navigate, including a housing lottery system theoretically devised to provide a solution for the dire need for accommodation.
A problem that has been brewing for decades, the housing crisis continues to get worse, with vacancy rates dropping to 1.4% citywide and under 1% for units priced $2,400 or lower, according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).
Meanwhile, rents continue to climb, with a 2024 report from New York City Comptroller Brad Lander finding that the median asking rent for available apartments across NYC was $3,500 a month. A household would have to earn $140,000 per year in order to afford such a unit based on the nationwide standard, suggesting that households should spend no more than one-third of their income on housing.
However, the lottery system — overseen by HPD and accessed through the online NYC Housing Connect platform — is overwhelmed with applications and feeling the strain of the crisis.
In 2024 alone, Housing Connect received six million applications for just 10,000 available units.
‘Affordable’ housing that isn’t all that affordable
Bronx Council Member Pierina Ana Sanchez, Chair of the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings, said a big problem with the lottery system is that they are not affordable to large swathes of the city’s population – and likely never will be.
HUD currently defines 100% of the Area Median Income (AMI) for a family of four in New York City as $162,000—a figure derived through a complex set of formulas that incorporates higher-income counties outside the five boroughs, including Rockland and Westchester.
In contrast, the actual median income for a family of four living in New York City is just $79,713, according to the latest U.S. Census data.
As a result, a unit marketed by HPD at 50% AMI—typically categorized as “low-income”—is in fact roughly aligned with the true median income of New York City residents. For example, HUD pegs the AMI for a single-person household at $113,400, which is more than twice the city’s per capita median income of $50,776.
One large development, where 244 units are available through the lottery, are for applicants who earn approximately 130% AMI, such as a development at 2-21 Malt Drive in Long Island City. To qualify, for instance, an individual must make at least $85,372 per year in order to apply for a studio that goes for $2,490 per month.
A family of four, on the other hand, must earn a minimum of $123,086 to apply for a two-bedroom apartment that rents for $3,590 – which stands above the citywide median rent outlined in the Comptroller’s report. However, the same-sized family is able to earn up to $210,600.
Another ongoing lottery in the Bronx, which boasts a median borough-wide household income of $49,036, has set all 17 units at 130% AMI. The development, located at 21-04 Ryer Ave., is advertising monthly rents of $2,421 for a studio and $2,716 for a two-bedroom apartment. Applicants must earn a minimum of $90,103 to qualify for a studio and $107,623 to qualify for a two-bedroom.
In fact, a household leasing a two-bedroom apartment in the Ryer Avenue development would spend $32,592 on rent every year, just $16,444 less than a typical household earns in the borough, not accounting for income tax.
The pitfalls of Housing Connect
Housing Connect was initially hailed as a groundbreaking tool in the fight against New York City’s housing crisis. But more than a decade later, the city’s housing lottery system is showing its limitations.
Sanchez said the system is flawed and no longer serves its purpose. With just 10,000 affordable units available in 2024 and a staggering six million applications submitted, she notes that the odds of securing housing through the platform are minuscule.
She also told amNewYork that she has seen applicants miss out on a unit because they made a slight mistake when submitting documents.
Tigani, with HPD, told the Council during the April 29 hearing that HPD is taking steps to streamline documentation requirements and reduce the need for excess paperwork. For instance, it has just reduced the number of pay stubs required for approval.
Applicants with jobs are now required to submit just one month of pay stubs, a significant change from the previous requirement of up to six months.
He also noted in the April 29 hearing that HPD will carry out a comprehensive overhaul of the Housing Connect system to improve its functionality and user experience.
HPD Press Secretary Matt Rauschenbach said the housing lottery is “central” to the department’s efforts to make housing more accessible for New Yorkers.
New Yorkers Struggle to meet income requirements
Many New Yorkers who testified at the City Council’s April 29 hearing touched on this issue, speaking of how they have had to work multiple jobs or work 50-hour weeks just to make enough money to be eligible for even the cheapest units offered through the portal.
Milagros Salazar, a low-income health worker living in the Bronx, told the hearing how she applied to 63 lotteries before eventually being accepted for an affordable unit. She said she often worked 50-hour weeks in order to meet income eligibility for the lottery, stating that she constantly suffered from “anxiety” throughout the application process.
She also said she was disqualified from one apartment because her income was $100 less than the minimum requirement and contended that very few units are offered to applicants earning under $40,000 per year.
Alex Martinez, who testified on behalf of the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, which has provided assistance to over 2,000 Bronx residents with applications since 2017, told the hearing that the Housing Connect system is often glitchy and difficult to use for people with limited digital literacy.
For the small number of applicants who win an affordable housing lottery, the process remains far from straightforward and is often burdensome.
According to testimony from Tigani at the April 29 hearing, applicants can wait anywhere from 12 to 15 months between submitting their application and moving in. The average wait time between selection and lease signing stretches 109 days, as noted in the 2025 Mayor’s Management Report.
Addressing the problems
Sanchez has introduced three bills to improve Housing Connect. Two of those bills focus specifically on improving the user experience and assisting people with limited digital literacy.
Intro 1265, for example, would require Housing Connect to notify applicants if they are successful or not by both email and text, while also allowing applicants to assign a designee to handle their applications. Additionally, another bill, Intro 1266, would create a city-funded in-person assistance program to help renters through the Housing Connect application process.
There is currently no such program funded by the city, with non-profits and other agencies stepping in to help reduce some of the demand for Housing Connect assistance.
Vacant units
Sanchez’s final bill, Intro 1264, seeks to reduce the long delays in filling the units vacated by lottery winners—also known as re-rentals. Until recently, HPD required these units to go through the Housing Connect lottery system, a process that could take an average of 16 months before a new tenant moved in.
In response to mounting criticism, HPD began issuing temporary waivers allowing landlords to list re-rental units on external platforms like StreetEasy and Craigslist—but those waivers are only valid for one year. Sanchez is now pushing for a more permanent fix to prevent such long-term vacancies.
No easy solution
Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference, meanwhile, said hefty building costs in New York City make it difficult for developers to offer low-cost housing.
Given current construction costs, she said it is unrealistic to expect that a large number of units could be built and rented to very low-income populations—leaving tens of thousands of New Yorkers without viable housing options.
She explained that under the one-third income rule, a household earning less than $30,000 annually would need a unit rented at well under $1,000 per month for it to be considered affordable. As a result, she argued that expanding housing assistance programs like Section 8 is the only viable path to securing stable housing for those classified as “very low income.”
