Can I apply for the housing lottery even if I don’t live in NYC?
- Yes, you can enter the lottery but be aware that New York City residents receive preference
- Roughly 6 percent of applicants from July 2020 to December 2021 were non-NYC residents
Of the households that leased a lottery unit from July 2020 through December 2021, less than 1 percent were not NYC residents.
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I'm interested in applying to New York City's housing lottery but I don't live in the five boroughs. Can I apply even if I don’t live in the city?
In short, yes. Anyone can apply to New York City’s housing lottery, according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. But New Yorkers get first dibs.
“We encourage everyone to apply to the affordable housing lottery,” Natasha Kersey, deputy press secretary for the HPD, said in a statement. “However, the city gives general preference to New Yorkers to help ensure they can continue living in the city they love.”
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Winning the housing lottery—how the city releases new, rent-stabilized apartments—can be life changing for any New Yorker. Housing lottery units at new developments where the developer has received a tax break. Rent increases are limited; they are set by a board of mayoral appointees each year, and lease renewals are usually automatic.
Winning an apartment can take years, and to be eligible, you need to meet certain income requirements. But NYC residency isn’t required.
Instead, an agent marketing lottery apartments is required to first process applicants who fit into certain preference categories. Some units are often reserved for municipal employees, renters with mobility or vision problems, or those who already live in the area. (Previously, the city required 50 percent of a building’s lottery units to be set aside for New Yorkers living in the same community board as the property, that ratio was lowered to 20 percent following a discrimination lawsuit.)
After a marketing agent fills those reserved units (or at least tries to), “applicants in the general pool who reside in New York City must be prioritized before non-NYC residents, according to the HPD’s marketing handbook, which describes the lottery selection process.
Few non-New Yorkers apply, and even fewer successfully win an apartment. Roughly 6 percent of applicants to the NYC housing lottery applied from outside the city or an unknown location from July 2020 through December 2021, the most recent period data is available. Of the households that leased a lottery unit within that time frame, less than 1 percent were not NYC residents.
Non-citizens can apply too, and applicants can’t be discriminated against based on their immigration status, per the handbook. A marketing agent may ask you for your social security number or individual tax identification number to run a credit check, but you can also provide evidence of 12 monthly rent payments instead.
