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I apply to basically every affordable housing opportunity there is--Mitchell Lamas, housing lotteries, etc.
I've been applying via NYC Housing Connect since 2017 and gotten some very low numbers (lowest number was <200) and I have NEVER gotten a call. I've gotten low 1000s three times and still no calls either. How do so many people on this forum get calls with much higher numbers? My income fits the bands too. Is it CB preference? I thought (and I heard on this forum, actually) that they were going to get rid of CB preference but I still see it popping up all the time.
I feel like they randomly call log numbers. I don't think they go from the lowest to the highest. I just got called to verify my income and I was 54,xxx I had CB preference but it doesn't make sense even if there were 2000 apartments available they should have been able to fill them up before my number was called if they were doing it in order. And while looking on this forum I saw that other people mentioned they were called a month before me with an even higher log number in the 60,xxx.
I think it depends on your income band and where the developments are that you apply for. Like if you are in the 120% and above bands and apply for Bushwick developments you might get called all the time (I just had a slew of invitations for an interview to those), but if you are under 100%, or even in the higher bands, and apply to a lot of central Manhattan ones, your odds of getting called are much lower.
It's definitely luck of the draw. We are randomly assigned log numbers when they conduct the lottery but they actually do go in order when they start calling folks. CB preference, disability preference, and municipal employees are put on their respect lists for the units put aside for them and are called first. Then the rest of the applicants are called for the remaining units. Even if you qualify, if they call enough folks that qualify before you to fill the remaining units in a development, you may or may not be notified that there's no more apartments left for you to be processed for. I've been applying since 2014, got called for 2 lotteries in 2017 (1 in Queens, 1 in Manhattan), interviewed for both and signed the lease for the Manhattan apartment summer 2017. So hang in there! Don't give up hope! It costs you nothing to apply to the lotteries so keep applying! But if you happen to need to move right away, look into contacting management companies directly to see if they have anything vacant or go the broker route. Good Luck!
They don't randomly call log numbers--that would be too easy to manipulate. Strict log number order (accounting for preferences) is how they at least try to ensure that people aren't hooking up their friends or family.
For many of these apartments, any given band and unit size will have less than 10 units available. If you're in one of the lower bands, where not only is the competition more intense but people with preferences are more likely to be (e.g., disabled people on average have lower income, and most municipal employees usually aren't cleaning up, either), the odds approach true lottery odds.
I've gotten called with log #s in the 60000s and 70000s (always more than a year after the numbers were assigned) and I can easily believe I was called in order--the apartments in my band are mostly not very attractively priced and people with that kind of income just aren't desperate to move. I didn't take those places, either.
Shady, are you making sure that the income you put on your application corresponds to one of the income bands for that development?
You should redo your application for each building. Look at the PDF and pick an income inside one of the bands. Put that down on your application. Of course, it should be close to what you actually make, because you'll have to prove it later. No use in wildly inflating the number or deflating it.
But still, I do think it's odd that you haven't been called at all with those low log numbers.
My friend applied for nine lotteries, and the only one she was called for was in the one in her community board. But she had high numbers for the others, not like you at all.
Yes, I only apply for lotteries where I am smack dab in the middle of the provided income band. So, say the income band is $40,0000 - $60,000 and I hypothetically make $50,000, those are the ones I am applying for.
I haven't been called for any of them. It also doesn't help that I live in an area of NYC where literally no development ever goes on so CB preference does NOTHING lol.
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