HPD Reforms Burdensome Paperwork for Housing Lottery

Changes keep coming to the city’s housing lottery process.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development is easing the paperwork burden for affordable housing applicants, The City reported. It should make the renting of subsidized units easier for all involved.

Instead of providing up to six months’ worth of pay stubs, applicants will only need to submit for one month. Only self-employed applicants will need to provide tax returns.

Applicants with less than $51,600 in assets can self-certify; before, this was only granted to those with less than $5,000. Self-certifications will no longer require a notary’s signature, either.

Other reforms on the horizon: those who receive federal benefits and those with disabilities will no longer need a medical professional to attest to their disability.

“When the city makes it easier for the applicant to apply, easier for an applicant to get approved for an apartment, this will definitely speed up the process, and actually hand out affordable units for those in need,” Reside New York executive director Sam Rosenberg told the publication.

Applicants for the affordable housing lottery — who already face difficult odds of securing an apartment — have been tripped up by the volume of paperwork needed for the approval process. The reliance on others to provide or certify documents often delayed the process and sometimes led to unnecessary disqualifications.

The reforms are expected to especially benefit the formerly homeless and victims of domestic violence, according to social service providers. Many of those in the latter category have their finances controlled or destroyed by an abusive partner and may need to abandon important documents to flee the abuse.

Last week, the city also moved to temporarily streamline the process for filling vacancies in affordable apartments for the next year. From May 1 through April 30, 2026, landlords and brokers can use sites like StreetEasy and Craigslist to list units previously required to be advertised through the city’s Housing Connect system.

— Holden Walter-Warner