The art of the New York housing lottery

With thousands of entries for a hundred units, housing lotteries are infamous in New York for the low chance entrants have of actually winning, but there are happy endings.

In a series of interviews, the New York Post, spoke with lottery winners — many of whom entered lotteries for years before their name was drawn — to find out their best tips for going through New York’s housing lottery.

First, get your papers organized and stored in one place so that, if you get past the initial round, you can quickly and efficiently get your paperwork ready and meet all the deadlines – because if you don’t, there are several thousand other people in line behind you.

Second, prepare to be surprised. Application processes can take forever or be turned around quickly and — if you do get lucky — you could be asked to pack up and move on short notice. Prepare yourself to heed the call.

Finally, winners all encouraged fellow New Yorkers to keep trying and keep applying.

“It’s not fake, but it is hard,” Ava Javier told the Post. She applied to lotteries for nine years before she won a $788 per month studio in Greenpoint Landing.

[NYP] — E.K. Hudson