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DNAinfo: NYC's affordable housing lotteries skewed to young singles

DNAinfo's Shaye Weaver reported 11/16/16 City's Affordable Housing Lotteries Favor Young Single People, Stats Show. This isn't necessarily true of all units, but was based on analyzing 2013-15 statistics from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Weaver wrote:
But new data shows that the lion's share of the affordable apartments are going to singles ages 25 through 34.
More than half of the 48 housing lotteries for 1,470 units across the city put out by HPD from January 2013 through the end of 2015 were made up of one-bedrooms and and studios, according to the agency.
Forty-one percent of winners in those lotteries were ages 25 through 34, 50 percent of them were single, 36 percent are Hispanic and 27 percent of winners are black, according to data obtained by DNAinfo New York through a Freedom of Information Law request.
Only 4 percent were 62 years old or older, and 11 percent were under the age of 25.
That may in part be that units--especially 80/20 buildings--in certain areas, like Manhattan's West Side, skew toward smaller households that would rent studios and one bedrooms. It also may reflect age and Internet savvy, given that most people apply for affordable housing online.

And the racial mix may reflect the fact that a certain number of lotteries were held in Manhattan, where black or Hispanic residents may not be eligible for the 50% Community Board preference.

So it's unclear that these statistics can be directly extrapolated to all affordable housing lotteries, including those for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. But it does suggest that we could use more transparency.

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