Housing lottery launches for 47 apartments in the Bronx
- The 13-story building—located half a mile from Yankee Stadium—has a gym, parking, and a business center
- New Yorkers who earn $62,983 to $198,250 are eligible to apply, and rents start at $1,718 for a studio
A rendering of the top floors of 299 East 161st Street.
NYC Housing Connect
Hold onto your baseball caps, Yankees fans.
Housing lottery applications are open for 47 rent-stabilized apartments at a new development in the Concourse Village section of the Bronx, just half a mile from Yankee Stadium.
New Yorkers who earn $62,983 to $198,250 are eligible to apply, depending on the size of their household. Rents start at $1,718 for a studio.
The building at 299 East 161 St. has a laundry room, a gym, parking, electric car charging stations and a business center. It’s located near the Melrose commuter rail stop on Metro-North Railroad’s Harlem Line and the 161st Street–Yankee Stadium subway stop serving the 4 train.
Designed by IMC Architecture, the 13-story building holds 157 units total, according to Department of Finance records. The building replaced a handful of small homes on East 161st Street between Morris Avenue and Park Avenue.
The apartments are set aside for New Yorkers earning from 80 to 130 percent of the area median income (AMI)—a metric that depends on how many people you live with. Currently the AMI for New York City is $113,000 for a household of two. The apartments available include studios as well as one- and two-bedroom apartments.
There are 14 one-bedroom apartments available for households earning from $67,475 to $101,680, depending upon their size. The rent for these apartments is $1,829.
The developers have set aside 50 percent of the rent-stabilized apartments for applicants who already live in the area. Future lotteries will use a lower ratio as a result of a lawsuit settlement, which claimed the practice of community preference perpetuates segregation and violates the Fair Housing Act. Read: "NYC agrees to cut percentage of housing lottery units set aside for nearby residents."
Another 5 percent of the apartments will be preferentially given to NYC employees, and a small percentage of the apartments are also set aside for residents with mobility, vision, and hearing needs.
Applications must be submitted online or postmarked no later than May 28th.
If you’re interested and think you might qualify for one of these apartments, you can create a profile and apply online via NYC Housing Connect. For details on this particular lottery, click here. Don’t apply more than once, or you could be disqualified.
Winning a rent-stabilized apartment can be life changing: Rent increases are capped and lease renewals are automatic, providing long-term stability for NYC renters. Need more information on how the housing lottery works? Check out “6 steps for applying to NYC's affordable housing lottery.”
For some advice from successful applicants read “How to land a rental apartment through NYC's affordable housing lottery.” And if you or someone you know is having trouble with the application process, consider reaching out to a housing ambassador in the community.
Note: Brick Underground is in no way affiliated with New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development or the Housing Development Corporation. If you are interested in applying to these or other affordable housing developments, please go to NYC Housing Connect for information and instructions.
Have you successfully won an apartment through the affordable housing lottery? If you have first-person advice to share about the process, we’d love to hear from you. Please send us an email. We respect all requests for anonymity.
