She was still in college when she started applying for the housing lottery. Now, she pays $1,600 for a 1-bedroom apartment in NYC.

• Ceronne Mitchell started applying for the New York City affordable-housing lottery while she was in college.
• The rent for her one-bedroom apartment in Queens is $1,631 a month.
• Competition for lottery apartments is stiff: On average, there are 450 applications for each rental unit.

Ceronne Mitchell, 26, first learned about the New York City housing lottery through her mother when she was in high school.

Even though Mitchell was still young, her mom was already encouraging her to apply for the program.

“I kind of fought her on it because I was working a mall sales associate job at the time, and I was like, ‘Mom, I need to be working somewhere seriously before I can start applying,'” Mitchell told Business Insider. “And she said, ‘No, you need to apply now. By the time you get called, you’ll be working somewhere.'”

She ended up heeding her mother’s advice and started applying while she was in college, in part because the application process was easier than she expected.

“It’s damn near as easy as swiping on a dating app. It’s a no-brainer,” Mitchell said. “Once I see that I’m within the range for an apartment in a neighborhood that I like, with amenities that I like, I’ll just apply for the hell of it.”

As it turned out, her mother was right.

Mitchell, now a social media manager, ended up securing the fifth apartment she ever applied for. The application was submitted in 2021 and she heard back two years later, Mitchell said.

Long wait, stiff competition

The NYC affordable-housing lotteries are run by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, or HPD, and the Housing Development Corporation.

To qualify for an apartment, each household must meet specific income requirements. These vary across developments depending on unit size and location.

Applying for the housing lottery is free, but competition is stiff: According to the HPD, on average, there are 450 applications received per rental unit.

When Mitchell received the offer for a one-bedroom lottery apartment in June last year, it was perfect timing.

She had been living in a studio apartment in Brooklyn for about a year and had just renewed her lease.

“They had just raised my rent, and I had locked it in for the next two years,” Mitchell said. “But the price of that studio apartment on the second floor would’ve been $20 more than this lottery apartment on the seventh floor with a one bedroom.”

She decided to go ahead with the lottery apartment, and thankfully, she was able to break her previous lease.

“They were like, ‘Sure. As long as you can be out by August 30 — my original move-out date — we won’t hold this new lease against you,'” Mitchell said, recounting her landlord’s words.

After submitting some paperwork, including pay slips and tax returns, for the lottery apartment, all that was left to do was wait.

“I’m such a superstitious person. I was just so scared down to the inking on the paper, that it could be taken away from me,” Mitchell said. “I didn’t tell a single soul that I was going through this.”

Finally, the time came for her to sign the lease and collect her keys.

“It was just me and my mom, and I was beaming,” Mitchell said. “When I look at apartments, I always open the fridge, and a lot of times there would be old food and stuff like that in there. This time, I opened the fridge, and it was brand new.”

Turning a house into a home

It’s been slightly over a year since Mitchell moved into her lottery apartment in Queens with her dog, Lacey. It’s in a new residential building, and she’s the first tenant in the unit.

Her apartment came with hardwood floors, big windows, and a dishwasher.

“I have a pretty good view just because I’m on the seventh floor. I actually see the tops of all the other apartments near me,” Mitchell said. “If I turn my head through my window, I could see the very, very top of the World Trade Center, where I work, so that’s always fun to know.”

While her unit doesn’t come with an in-unit washer and dryer, there are shared washers and dryers on every floor of the building, Mitchell said. There’s also a gym and a community room in the building.

The nearest subway is within walking distance, and so is the Long Island Rail Road.

The rent costs $1,631 a month, and her lease is for two years.

Mitchell describes the interior design as “a modern Parisian apartment with light academia tones.”

Pink is the central accent color, and a lot of her pieces are sourced from Facebook Marketplace or from StoopingNYC, an Instagram account that posts photos of unwanted furniture and other items left on the sidewalks of NYC.

“I always tell myself, there will not be a single piece of furniture in here that I buy that’ll cost more than the rent,” Mitchell said. “The rent is the most expensive thing in here.”

As a result, she spent a long time thinking about how she wanted to decorate her home.

“Some people can afford to move in and buy every single thing that they want from Restoration Hardware at the drop of a hat, and sometimes it takes four months to get a couch, and that’s OK,” Mitchell added.

Her favorite part of the house is her living room, although she says she spends the most time in the kitchen.

“I didn’t realize how much I would want to just stand and eat or stand and lean on my counters and drink my coffee. I also cook a ton, and so I’m constantly in the kitchen,” she added.

‘Native New Yorkers deserve to stay here’

Thanks to skyrocketing housing prices, the housing lottery may be one of the few ways for many people to continue to afford living in NYC.

Rents in New York grew more than seven times as fast as wages in 2023, according to a May report from Zillow.

Some lower-earning New Yorkers and even young families are choosing to move to the suburbs or leave the country entirely in order to enjoy a lower cost of living.

“As much as I’m for the housing lottery, I think that it does suck that as a native, sometimes the only hope and dream of staying in the city affordably is this route,” Mitchell said. “But I will say that of all the things that New York offers me and its residents, this is one of the best opportunities.”

She has a piece of advice for those interested in the housing lottery: Apply, apply, apply.

“Make it a habit. Just go on the website and apply,” Mitchell said. And even if you don’t check it daily, check it weekly when you remember to — just do it.”

“Native New Yorkers deserve to stay here, and I’m always proud when one can,” she continued.

Have you recently built or renovated your dream home? If you’ve got a story to share, get in touch with me at agoh@businessinsider.com.