I Probably Lost the Housing Lottery. Do I Still Deserve to Live in This $3,950/Month One Bedroom?

Every time I scroll through Housing Connect, the City's portal for its affordable housing lottery, all I can think is that "lottery" is a crazy word to describe how housing is distributed in the country's most populous city. When I look at some of the rent prices, I think "affordable" is even crazier. For example, eight lucky winners will be able to rent studio apartments at Williamsburg Wharf A2 for $3,434 a month, provided their annual income falls between $117,738 and $141,310. 

This year, Hell Gate's worker-owners gave ourselves raises, so I was updating my profile on Housing Connect to reflect my new income. While I was at it, I scrolled through my personal application graveyard. Some are years old, some are from a few weeks ago, but they're all "pending." 

"Lottery application submitted," each listing assures me, next to my five-to-six digit "log number." Every once in awhile I'll search the keywords "housing connect" in my inbox to see if I've just been missing emails, maybe from an angry bureaucrat who tried but failed to get more documents from me, or even a rejection that could assuage my fear that I'm throwing applications into a void.

For now, I have to content myself by assuming someone, somewhere in City government is hard at work filling the 33 studio and one bedroom apartments at The Welz in East Williamsburg that are reserved for people making 60 percent of the area's median income—between $50,298 and $65,220 a year for one person. I just probably wasn't one of them. That's life.

Still, looking at my application, I wondered if there was anything I could have done differently to have improved my chances. And if my application was still pending, was it possible I still had a chance? Maybe if I booked a tour of one of the apartments—you know, showed face—I could still snag one of the below-market-rate units. Seeing that the Welz had started showing their market-rate units this month, I clicked over to the apartment building's website. Charmed by the building's tagline, "Redefining the High Ground," I decided to book a tour.