NEW YORK — If you’re looking for new affordable housing in the city, heads up, the rules are changing.
Now, it will be easier to move to the neighborhood of your choice, regardless of where you live.
Norly Estrella won the lottery — the housing lottery — by moving into a new apartment in East Harlem.
“I applied like six months ago and got my apartment right away,” Estrellas said.
He said he loves his new place, but preferred to live closer to work.
“I wanted in Queens, but they didn’t give it to me,” Estrella said.
While we don’t know why, the way the lottery system works is half of new affordable units offered through it, go to neighborhood residents. Estrella didn’t live in Queens, rather in East Harlem.
“It shouldn’t be having preference,” Estrella said.
“What it does, you start with a segregated New York City, you give preference for people who already live in the community district, you perpetuate segregation,” said attorney Craig Gurian, executive director of the Anti-Discrimination Center.