For the first time since the city’s housing lottery portal launched in 2020, Bushwick has an affordable homeownership lottery: 16 co-op apartments in two new buildings, in a system where fewer than 3 percent of lotteries sell homes instead of renting them, according to the city housing department’s lottery records on NYC Open Data. The lottery, announced by nonprofit developers Riseboro and Nehemiah HDFC and listed on NYC Housing Connect, closes on September 3.
The units are at 1262 Bushwick Avenue and 635 Chauncey Street, two four-story buildings with eight apartments each. They range from one to three bedrooms, and every one of them is reserved for first-time buyers who will live there as their primary residence. You apply through NYC Housing Connect, the city’s centralized portal for affordable housing.
The prices break down as follows. The cheapest apartment is a one-bedroom priced at $219,500, aimed at households of one to three people earning between $88,666 and $137,430 a year, which is 90 percent of the Area Median Income. At the top end, the most expensive unit is a three-bedroom priced at $459,200, for households of three to seven people earning between $154,410 and $231,440, or 110 percent of AMI. Monthly maintenance runs from $844 to $1,695 depending on the unit.
Area Median Income is the benchmark the city uses to set who qualifies for affordable housing. Per the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the 2026 AMI for a three-person family in the New York City region is $152,700. These co-ops are pitched at moderate-income households earning a bit above and below that line, not the lowest-income tier.
To be eligible, you need to be a first-time buyer, have 5 percent of the purchase price ready for a down payment, and keep your assets under the program’s caps. Buyers also need additional cash on hand for closing costs. Owners pay their own electric, internet, and cable; the monthly maintenance covers heat, hot water, sewer, extermination, cleaning, and building insurance. The buildings are pet friendly and smoke free, with in-unit washer-dryers and dishwashers. A share of the units is set aside for residents with mobility, hearing, and vision disabilities, plus city workers, veterans, and Community Board 4 residents.
The catch that makes this different from a normal home purchase is the land underneath. The co-ops were built with the intention of being placed on the Interboro Community Land Trust, according to the listing. A community land trust takes the land out of the speculative market and caps how much an owner can make when they resell, which is how the housing stays affordable for the next buyer.
The resale limits are baked into the city program that funded the buildings. The buildings were constructed through HPD’s Open Door Program, which finances new cooperative and condominium buildings affordable to moderate- and middle-income households. Under Open Door’s rules, an owner who sells during the regulatory period can realize up to 2 percent appreciation on the original purchase price for each year they lived there, and must sell to a household earning no more than the project’s income cap. It is homeownership designed to build modest equity, not to flip.
The two buildings are part of a single development, South Bushwick Neighborhood Homes, whose homes are being offered through two separate Housing Connect lotteries; this listing covers the 16 cooperative units. Riseboro and Nehemiah HDFC are announcing the homes, per the listing.
The floor plans give a sense of the space. One-bedrooms run 555 to 684 square feet, two-bedrooms 713 to 862 square feet, and three-bedrooms 865 to 1,114 square feet, with most of the larger apartments carrying two bathrooms.
Restored Homes HDFC hosted an information session on Zoom on Monday, August 24 walking through the application and home-buying process; attending was not required to apply. The lottery closes September 3.
Featured image: via NYC Housing Connect
