City employees and veterans will now have a larger edge in obtaining an affordable housing unit through the city's lottery system.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday said he is doubling the percentage of homes that will give preference for city employees and veterans through the NYC Housing Connect lottery system.
Historically, city employees have been given priority on 5% of newly-constructed affordable homes financed by either the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) or the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC). Now that preference will increase to 10% for both city employees and veterans.
"We want to make sure the public servants who power our city can afford to live in our city, which is why we are going to double the city’s affordable housing preference for our extraordinary city employees,” Adams said in a statement. “But we’re not stopping there. Too many military veterans still struggle with housing insecurity. If you served our country abroad or on a military base, you should be able to find an affordable place to live back home."
Applicants must check off that they are a municipal employee or a military veteran on the applications in order to qualify for the preference.
