Gen Zer Wins NYC Housing Lottery, Pays $1.6K in Rent for Queens Apartment

• Ceronne Mitchell started applying for the New York City Affordable Housing Lottery while she was in college.
• The rent for her one-bedroom apartment in Queens is $1,631 a month.
• Competition for lottery apartments is fierce: on average, there are 450 applications for each rental unit.

Ceronne Mitchell, 26, first learned about the New York housing lottery through her mother when she was in high school.

Even though Mitchell was still young, her mother was already encouraging her to apply for the program.

“I argued with her because at the time I was working in a sales associate job in a mall and I was like, ‘Mom, I need to get some serious work somewhere before I start applying,'” Mitchell told Business Insider. “And she said, ‘No, you have to apply now. Until you are called, you will be working somewhere”.

She ended up heeding her mother’s advice and started applying while in college, in part because the application process was easier than she expected.

“It’s as damn easy as swiping on a dating app. It’s a simple idea,” Mitchell said. “Once I see I’m within the confines of an apartment in a neighborhood I like, with amenities I like, I’ll just apply for it.”

As it turned out, her mother was right.

Mitchell, now a social media manager, ended up securing the fifth apartment she’s ever applied for. The application was submitted in 2021 and she received a response two years later, Mitchell said.

Long wait, fierce competition

New York affordable housing lottery are run by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, or HPD, and the Housing Development Corporation.

To qualify for an apartment, each household must meet specific income requirements. These vary by unit size and location.

Applying to the housing lottery is free, but competition is fierce: According to HPD, on average, 450 applications are received per rental unit.

When Mitchell got the offer for a one-bedroom lottery apartment last June, the timing was perfect.

She had been living in a studio apartment in Brooklyn for about a year and had just renewed her lease.

“They just raised my rent and I’m locked in for the next two years,” Mitchell said. “But the price of that second-floor studio would have been $20 more than this seventh-floor lottery one-bedroom.”

She decided to go ahead with the lottery apartment and fortunately was able to break her previous lease.

“They said, ‘Sure. As long as you can be gone by August 30 – my original departure date – we won’t hold this new lease against you,” Mitchell said, recounting her landlord’s words.

After submitting some paperwork, including pay stubs and tax returns, for the lottery apartment, all that was left to do was wait.

“I’m such a superstitious person. I was so scared of the ink on the paper that it might be taken from me,” Mitchell said. “I haven’t told a soul I’m going through this.”

Finally, it was time for her to sign the lease and pick up her keys.

“It was just me and my mom and I was beaming,” Mitchell said. “When I look at apartments, I always open the fridge and a lot of times there was old food and stuff in there. This time, I opened the fridge and it was brand new.”

Turning a house into a home

It’s been a little over a year since Mitchell moved into her lottery apartment in Queens with her dog, Lacey. It’s in a new residential building, and she’s the first tenant in the unit.

Her apartment had hardwood floors, large windows, and a dishwasher.

“I have a pretty good view just because I’m on the seventh floor. I can actually see the tops of all the other apartments near me,” Mitchell said. “If I turn my head out my window, I could see the top of the World Trade Center where I work, so that’s always fun to know.”

Although her unit does not come with an in-unit washer and dryer, there are shared washers and dryers on each floor of the building, Mitchell said. There is also a gym and a common room in the building.

The nearest subway is within walking distance, as is the Long Island Rail Road.

The rent is $1,631 a month, and her lease is for two years.

Mitchell describes the interior design as “a modern Parisian apartment with light, academic tones.”

Pink is the central accent color, and many of her pieces come from Facebook Marketplace or StoopingNYC, an Instagram account that posts photos of unwanted furniture and other items left on NYC sidewalks.

“I always tell myself there’s not going to be one piece of furniture here that I can buy that costs more than the rent,” Mitchell said. “Rent is the most expensive thing here.”

As a result, she thought long and hard about how she wanted to decorate her home.

“Some people can afford to move out and buy anything they want at Restoration Hardware, and sometimes it takes four months to get a couch, and that’s OK,” Mitchell added.

Her favorite part of the house is the living room, although she says she spends the most time in the kitchen.

“I didn’t realize how much I’d want to sit and eat or sit and lean on my counter and drink my coffee. I also cook a ton, so I’m constantly in the kitchen” , she added.

“Native New Yorkers deserve to stay here”

Due to skyrocketing housing prices, the housing lottery may be one of the few ways many people can afford to live in NYC.

Rents in New York will grow more than seven times faster than wages in 2023, according to a May report from Zillow.

Some lower income New Yorkers and even young families choose to move to the suburbs or leave the country entirely to enjoy a lower cost of living.

“As much as I’m all for the housing lottery, I think it’s sickening that as a native, sometimes the only hope and dream of staying in the city affordably is this route,” Mitchell said. “But I will say that of all the things New York has to offer me and its residents, this is one of the best opportunities.”

She has advice for those interested in the housing lottery: Apply, apply, apply.

“Make it a habit. Just go to the website and apply,” Mitchell said. And even if you don’t check it daily, check it weekly when you remember, just do it.”

“Native New Yorkers deserve to stay here, and I’m always proud when I can,” she continued.

Have you recently built or renovated your dream home? If you have a story to share, contact me at [email protected].