I cut my rent in half when I won a studio in Hudson Yards through NYC’s housing lottery
- Kevin’s rent fell to $1,650 from $3,300 when he moved into a new, rent-stabilized unit
- A lower rent enables him to dedicate more income to his creative projects and films
Kevin's new lottery apartment is slightly larger than his previous market-rate place, and half the rent.
Photo courtesy Kevin Doan
Kevin Doan has lived in Hell’s Kitchen and Hudson Yards for three years. Last year, he won a studio through New York City’s housing lottery for $1,650 per month—just over half what he was paying for his market-rate apartment nearby. Here’s his story as told to Brick Underground’s senior writer Celia Young.
I am a filmmaker. I worked for a few years in advertising and marketing on Broadway for a few agencies, primarily in video, video content creation, direction, and conceptualizing visual campaigns. That’s why I moved to New York in the first place, and why I picked the Hell's Kitchen and Times Square area.
Being close to the theaters meant that I could raise my hand a little bit more [and take on more] work, and I could go back and forth at night between the theaters. But I wasn't able to find an affordable place that was near Time Square. Instead, I paid $3,300 a month for a studio—until I won my current apartment through the housing lottery.
[Editor’s note: Brick Underground's Inside Stories features first-person accounts of dramatic, real-life New York City real estate experiences. Have a story to share? Drop us an email. We respect all requests for anonymity.]
Looking for a sign to stay in NYC
I first heard about the housing lottery when I was working at Disney on Broadway. A couple of my coworkers, who had young families at the time, told me that I should apply. They had won, and were able to have a one bedroom in a nice luxury building.
I was enamored by the idea, but New York is huge, right? I never thought I would actually win, so I didn't apply. That was in 2021, and I didn't apply for years. It wasn't until I was being priced out of my building by September of 2024, when I got a rent increase. I thought: “Do I want to move to Los Angeles? Do I want to say New York? Universe, please give me a sign because I can't make the decision.”
I remembered the housing lottery, and thought if I can get a lottery [apartment], that would be an incentive for me to stay here, and [would be cheaper than] moving to Los Angeles and getting car insurance and all that stuff. On a whim, I applied for a building in the Hudson Yards and Hell's Kitchen area. And lo and behold, maybe two weeks afterwards, I got a call.
Sorting through his paperwork—and Venmo history
People on Reddit would tell stories about how they had to wait six months or even more. But my log number was in the low 2,000s and I think that was key in getting this call, because I applied the day that the building came up on the housing lottery [website].
I did some preliminary research on the building, but because it was so new, there was barely anything on it. There were maybe four or five Google reviews saying that they had liked the building when they toured it, but none from any residents. So I really took a chance on this building, and it's working out so far.
The move in process was pretty smooth as can be. We worked with a third-party that handled all of the paperwork. After that initial call—about two weeks after I applied—they started asking for a ton of documents. I want to say, in total, it was about 15 documents—including pay stubs, W-2s, former tax returns, and even my Venmo and PayPal records.
All the while, I was holding off telling my current building [that I had been selected], because I didn't want them to think that I was moving [in case I didn't get final approval for the lottery apartment]. So I waited until I signed the contract. All in all, the agent was able to get what she needed within about a month. And then she called me on the day after we submitted my paperwork to tell me that I got the apartment.
Cutting his monthly rent in half
It was an amazing feeling when she let me know that I had qualified for the housing lottery unit. I had been waiting for a sign to stay in New York. This was kind of a sign to me from New York, saying that it wasn't done with me, and that I had to add to my story here. I was ecstatic. Funnily enough, I was actually in Florida at the time visiting my family, and I ran to my parents, and said “Oh my God, I won the lottery. I won the housing lottery.”
Although I was sad to leave the building that I moved to when I first came to New York, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to live in a new building and with a much lower rent. I was thrilled. Especially as somebody who had a new job and at a very transitional period in life, this was a sign to me that there was some stability and good times coming for me.
In my last building I paid $3,300 per month for a studio. It was around 550-600 square feet with an open floor plan. You would walk in and there was the kitchen on the side, a bathroom on the other side, and then you would walk into this open space. For this new apartment, I pay $1,655. It's basically half.
Saving up for film projects
This studio has a hallway, a coat closet, and then you have the bathroom on the right hand side, an open kitchen plan, and then sort of a long corridor to the main room. I want to say it’s around 650 to 700 square feet. So it's a little bit more space, more room for me to have more things I guess.
I could not be happier with the amount of natural light. This is my first apartment with two sets of windows. I've lived in places where I’ve had just one window. So it’s very very cool to have two.
I think it's incredibly important, especially for me as an artist, to now have more income to use towards my creative endeavors. I had friends who are paying obscenely low rent here, and so they were able to make a living as an artist full time—with roommates or they found somewhere that was pretty affordable. I was always trying to work towards that place.
I really lucked out with this apartment, and I'm able to now use this money towards future film and video projects.
