Affordable Housing Lottery Rules Revised to Protect Low-Income Applicants

NEW YORK, NY — The rules for highly popular affordable housing lotteries will be changed to protect prospective tenants who may have experienced financial or legal troubles in their past, the mayor's office and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced Tuesday.

Applicants to affordable housing lotteries will no longer be subject to rejection based solely on poor credit scores or past disputes with landlords in housing court, according to the announcement. The lottery rules will also set new standards for people living in homeless shelters and receiving government benefits.

“Every New Yorker deserves equal access to an affordable home, including veterans, the elderly and homeless individuals and families,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement. “Disqualifications based solely on credit history, or because a tenant fought for his or her rights in housing court, have no place in our affordable housing programs. These key improvements to the rules level the playing field and give every household the chance to find a home within their means.”

Before the new marketing policies for housing lotteries, developers had grounds to reject affordable housing applicants even if they could make rent. Now developers building affordable-rate apartments will be required to submit a plan to HPD prior to receiving funding or tax breaks for the units. The changes will ensure that developers follow up on their commitments to affordable housing and will make sure the units are distributed to New Yorkers in need of affordable housing.

Under the new rules, applicants with a credit score under 580 — on the FICO credit score range of 300 to 850 — are not subject to rejection unless they fail to meet other criteria for financial stability. In addition, applicants with a credit score of or greater than 580 can be accepted with no further review of financial stability.

The new policies revise city housing lotteries in many other ways, including:

• Accounting for challenges residents of homeless shelters — including victims of domestic violence — face in meeting eligibility;
• Clarifying how developers calculate income of applicants receiving government benefits such as the GI Bill or Section 8;
• Making sure affordable housing applicants will use their new home as their primary residence;
• Requiring that interview locations be accessible and clearly marked, and that interviewers provide interpretation services including American Sign Language;
• Ensuring developers’ outreach and advertising efforts include diverse communities citywide;
• Making the appeal process more transparent;
• Ensuring privacy and security of personal information during interviews;
• Prohibiting home visits of applicants

The revisions to the housing lottery policy were made to support de Blasio's "Housing New York" plan to create and preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing. To apply for affordable housing lotteries prospective tenants can use the Housing Connect website.

"Through our new marketing policies and procedures, we’ve standardized the criteria developers can use to evaluate applicants, restricted the use of credit scores and housing court history to determine eligibility and limited personal assets, all to ensure that the affordable homes we build and preserve serve the New Yorkers who need them most,” said Vicki Been, commissioner of HPD, in a statement.

Photo: Flickr user Kevin Case via creative commons