What happens after you win a housing lottery: interview to keys

What happens after you win a housing lottery is a review, not an offer. The marketing agent, the company that runs the lottery for the building, checks your documents and income first. Send your papers on time and wait for a written offer before you tell your landlord. In New York City, half of approved applicants were approved within 136 days of an apartment becoming available, in the year to June 30, 2026.

Is winning the same as being approved?

No. A lottery only sets the order in which applications are reviewed. In New York, every application sent on time on Housing Connect, the city's lottery website, gets a random lottery number, which the city's housing department calls a log number. The marketing agent reviews applicants in groups. It looks first at people who qualify for apartments set aside for people with disabilities. Next come people with a preference, such as living in the neighborhood, and then everyone else in lottery number order.

Other cities also review applications in lottery order. San Francisco says leasing agents contact applicants in lottery order until all the apartments are filled. Boston tells applicants that their lottery number is not their rank, because preferences change the order.

What are the steps from selection to move-in?

In New York City, eight steps take you from a lottery number to keys.

What happens in the interview?

At the interview, the agent checks the facts you gave on your application. The city's Ready, Set, Apply! guide says to bring proof of three things:

• who will live with you: birth certificates, Social Security cards and photo IDs;
• everyone's income: pay stubs, tax returns and benefit letters;
• your current home: your lease, rent receipts and a recent gas or electric bill.

The letter tells you exactly what to bring. If you need a new time, call the number on the letter: most agents ask for at least 24 hours' notice. Our documents checklist has the full list.

How long does the whole process take?

In New York City, applicants who are approved usually wait about four to five months, and some applicants wait a year or longer to hear anything. The city's September 2026 management report counts, for each approved applicant, the days from an apartment becoming available to approval. The median is the middle value: half were approved faster and half took longer.

That median was 191 days in the year to June 30, 2024, and 142 days in the year to June 30, 2025. In the year to June 30, 2026, it was 136 days, and 25% of approved applicants were approved within three months and 56% within six.

A study by New York University's Furman Center followed about 64,000 applications to 101 buildings, starting from the day each got a lottery number. The median time to be checked and approved was 118 days, and approved applicants spent a median of 43 days sending documents. The study's clock starts when you get your lottery number; the city's starts when an apartment becomes available. Neither includes signing the lease and moving in, which take more time.

What are the possible outcomes?

• Approved. You get an apartment offer, and you have at least 5 weekdays to answer it.
• Waitlisted. If no apartment of your size is free, you can be put on the building's waitlist, a line for the next apartment that comes free. The city's Ready, Set, Apply! guide says this can last up to two years.
• Rejected. The letter gives the reason. In the Furman study, most rejections after a real review came from missing documents, missed deadlines or not qualifying.
• No word. Lease-up, the time when the building signs leases with approved applicants, can end before every lottery number is reached.

In the Furman study, about half of applicants never really took part in the review, often because they didn't answer or couldn't be reached, and about 15% were approved. See our NYC lottery odds guide, and if you're turned down, our appeal guide.

What does lease signing cost, and when can you move in?

The Ready, Set, Apply! guide says to save at least two months' rent, for the first month and the security deposit, plus moving costs. The agent can't take any money from you until the city's review is finished. You can move in once the city has approved you and you have signed the lease. In a new building, you also wait until the city gives permission for people to live there.

Every adult in the household signs a statement that the information is true. In a tax credit apartment, you also confirm your income again, and your income papers must be no more than 120 days old on the day you move in.

Should you give notice to your landlord yet?

Not yet. Wait for a written apartment offer. The handbook says no lease can be signed until the city finishes its review. Once you are approved, you must give up your current rental by your move-in date and withdraw your other lottery applications. So read your current lease now to see what it says about leaving early, and plan the timing.

While you wait, a change in your income or household can get your application rejected:

• A change in income. If your income changes so that you no longer qualify, tell the agent right away. It keeps your application only if the change was outside your control, such as a layoff, and you send a letter that proves it, such as one from your employer. Then it checks whether you qualify for a different apartment.
• A change in who lives with you. If someone moves in or out and you no longer qualify, the application is rejected. The exceptions are a birth, a death, a separation or divorce, a custody order or domestic violence. If one of these applies, send the agent proof, such as a birth certificate or court order.

What if you hear nothing?

Check your Housing Connect account and your spam folder often. The higher your lottery number, the less likely you are to be contacted, because the building can finish leasing before it reaches everyone. If you were contacted, call the number on the agent's letter.

Other cities can ask for answers faster. San Francisco says leasing agents sometimes give you only 2 to 5 days to answer, by email, phone or text, and the whole process can take weeks or months. In Boston, the city says selected applicants send proof of income and where they live, and those who rank too low go on a waitlist. See open listings on our San Francisco and Boston pages.

Keep applying while you wait. Read how housing lotteries work and the steps for the NYC housing lottery, and check the open housing lotteries. The qualify check shows which New York City listings fit your household.