Nkenge Brown first heard about New York City’s housing lottery system four years ago while she was at work.
“Someone told me they won an apartment in the lottery, and I was like, ‘What is that?'” Brown, 30, told Business Insider. At the time, Brown was working in the tech industry and living with his mother in Upper Manhattan.
“Once they told me about it, I ended up doing a search online on the website, but I didn’t really pay much attention to it at first,” Brown said.
Two years later, Brown was ready to move out and live on her own.
Nkenge Brown Nkenge Brown
“That’s when I started applying. But, of course, with these things, I know it takes time, so I was hoping for the best,” Brown said.
It would take two more years and more than 130 applications before she finally got an apartment, she said.
This couldn’t have come at a better time. Brown had just left her job to become a freelance photographer and content creator. She was also living in another apartment after moving out of her mother’s house and her rent was becoming too expensive.
The rent was about $1,940, and if she had stayed another year it would have been more than $2,000, she said.
“This place literally came along just in time, a few months before my second-year lease was up,” Brown said.
A long and tedious process
Affordable housing lotteries are administered by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, or HPD, and the Housing Development Corporation.
Rental and owner-occupied accommodation is available and application is free.
To qualify for a lottery apartment, each household must meet specific income and size requirements, and these vary between developments depending on the size and location of the unit.
Since 2013, more than 25 million applications have been submitted for about 40,000 units, the New York Times reported. In 2018, the odds of winning the housing lottery were 1 in 592, according to the Times. HPD did not respond to a request for comment from BI.
Applying for the housing lottery was a long process that required a lot of patience and paperwork, and Brown encountered a few hiccups along the way.
“It took me maybe over a year before I started getting responses from the different properties I had applied to,” Brown said. “For some of them I didn’t qualify, for others I didn’t provide enough documentation.”
Some documents included pay stubs, tax returns, as well as rent receipts and recent gas or electricity bills from where she previously lived.
The living room is bright and airy. Nkenge Brown
Even after learning she qualified for an apartment, it took another three months before she was able to move in in early May of last year.
“I started submitting paperwork in early February and moving things forward to get the venue accepted,” Brown said.
Brown’s one-bedroom apartment is located in Chelsea, a neighborhood on Manhattan’s west side, and is rent stabilized. This is a two-year lease with the possibility of renewal.
Her apartment costs $1,081 per month, but because she receives an $85 utility allowance, she ends up paying $996 in rent, plus an additional $54 per month for amenity fees.
The median monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Chelsea is $5,232, according to the latest April data from RentCafe.com.
“The day I moved in, I was super excited. I felt blessed,” Brown said. “It felt like things were falling into place, with the opportunity for me to take my business to the next level without feeling stressed about bills and everything being an adult has to offer.”
Her apartment was equipped with some standard appliances, including a washer and dryer, dishwasher, and refrigerator, although she said this was not always the case. case.
Brown is a proud plant mom. Nkenge Brown
“There are a wide range of apartments that offer different things, so it’s up to you as an applicant to apply for the ones you want or are open to,” Brown said.
Although the housing lottery website has a list of amenities displayed for each building, it does not specify which appliances each apartment in the building has, she added.
“For example, in the building I’m in, there are quite a few apartments available,” Brown said. “So one of them may not have a washer and dryer, while another. But they don’t tell you in detail which apartment it is.”
Additionally, potential tenants must submit all their documents before they can even tour the apartment in person, she explained.
A corner of his room is transformed into a work space. Nkenge Brown
“So it’s possible that you don’t even want that housing, but you still need to submit your paperwork first,” she said.
A space of your own
Brown’s home is a reflection of her personality and everything she loves: bright colors, eclectic furniture and more than 40 houseplants.
“Plants have the power to really transform your space,” Brown said. “I mean not only in terms of the health benefits, with the oxygen and everything, but also in terms of the care and maintenance of your plants.”
She brought most of her furniture and decor from her old apartment and managed to transform her new space into the comfortable, airy home she had always imagined.
The kitchen counter. Nkenge Brown
Aesthetics aside, most of her furniture doubles as storage, she said.
“I have a lot of stuff, so I’m always trying to find ways to hide it while still making the space cozy,” Brown said. “For example, I have a few beanbags that have storage: you just open the top. The beanbags themselves are very cute and you can sit on them. They don’t take up too much space.”
It’s hard to pick a favorite spot in the house, but if she had to choose, it would be the corner near her southeast-facing window.
The pink and yellow curtains, her plants and a small seating area by the window remind her of a cafe.
A corner near the window. Nkenge Brown
“I’m really inspired by cafes, especially the ones in Paris. And I know a lot of them had outward-facing chairs, and I really liked that. So, actually, I was bringing that also at my house,” Brown said.
“It’s my little corner where I can drink tea or read a book and just enjoy the sunshine coming in, because the sun rises in this area,” Brown added.
The bedroom. Nkenge Brown
Brown has a suggestion for those interested in applying for the housing lottery.
“I actually encourage people to apply as much as they want because I would say you have a better chance of being successful,” Brown said.
She said she also signed up for email alerts so she would be notified whenever new properties were listed on the portal.
Being able to have an affordable apartment in the heart of the city is like a dream come true, Brown said.
“I want to call this space my own. I also felt inspired. There’s always so much going on in the city and it’s nice to be able to have access to all these neighborhoods while living here,” she said. added. “I’m just very, very grateful.”
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