Cypress Hills Affordable Housing Lottery With Rent-Free Apartments Closes in Two Days

A housing lottery for 36 truly affordable apartments in Cypress Hills, including five that are rent free, is closing in two days.

The East New York Cluster Apartments are spread across three under-construction new three-story buildings at 190 Essex Street, 221 Vermont Street and 581 Belmont Avenue and they include one- and two-bedroom apartments. There are 41 apartments in total across the three buildings, according to Department of Building records, and 39 are included in the lottery.

The apartments are available to households of one to five people that earn between 30 and 70 percent of the Area Median Income, or $0 to $100,870 a year. Included in the lottery is one rent-free one-bedroom unit for single households earning 30 percent of AMI, or between $0 and $28,020, two-member households earning between $0 and $32,040 and families of three earning between $0 and $36,030.

There is also one more rent-free one-bedroom unit for households of one, two or three people earning 50 percent of AMI, or up to $60,050. The remaining three rent-free apartments are two-bedrooms for those at 30, 40 and 50 percent AMI.

The other one-bedroom apartments range between $473 and $1,328 a month, depending on incomes and family sizes, and the two-bedrooms rent from $563 and $1,589 a month.

The apartment buildings are all pet friendly and have bike storage lockers, accessible entrances, shared card-operated laundry rooms, on-site management, air conditioning and green space, according to NYC Housing Connect. The buildings are smoke free.

The listing says tenant utilities will depend on the specific building. At 190 Essex Street and 581 Belmont Avenue, tenants will pay electric heat and A/C, while the landlord pays gas for stove and hot water. At 221 Vermont Street, the tenant pays electricity including stove, heat and A/C, while the landlord pays for hot water.

The buildings are being constructed through the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Neighborhood Construction Program and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. According to the permits, Delacour, Ferrara & Church are the architects on record for the project.

All three sites were empty at least as far back as 2019. According to city records, they were transferred from HPD to Brooklyn North Housing Fund Corporation in 2020 for the purpose of building affordable housing for the East New York community. Typically a lottery takes place about six months before a new building opens.

The lottery closes November 25. To apply, please visit Housing Connect.

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