An affordable housing management group has opened a lottery to pick new tenants for about a dozen East Village co-ops.
The Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association is offering winners a studio or one-bedroom apartment for “a few thousand dollars.”
In addition, the dozen whose names are chosen will have to pay a $550 monthly maintenance fee, according to the group’s director, Val Orselli.
A Powerball-like frenzy broke out the last time the group offered up lottery housing in 2001, when almost 8,000 applications were received, DNAinfo reported.
“It took seven or eight years to get to the end of that waitlist,” Orselli told DNAinfo. “The demand is far greater than the supply.”
Studio and one-bedroom co-ops in the neighborhood rent for an average $2,600 a month, according to StreetEasy data. For about half of the units, preference will be given to residents of areas covered by Community Board 3 — the Lower East Side, East Village or Chinatown, the site reported. Applicants must meet certain income requirements. [DNAinfo] — Angela Hunt