You are reading

New Affordable Housing Lottery Opens in Astoria, Rents Start at $2,150

25-34 Steinway St (Google Maps)

Nov. 29, 2019 By Allie Griffin

Three new apartments are up for grabs in Astoria through the city’s affordable housing lottery, but you must make at least $73,715 to qualify.

Two one-bedroom and one two-bedroom units are available through the lottery inside a newly-constructed building at 25-34 Steinway St.

Monthly rent for the one bedrooms costs $2,150 each and monthly rent for the two-bedroom costs $2,849.

The one-bedroom units are open to households of one to three people who make between $73,715 and $124,930 combined annually. The two-bedroom unit is open to households of two to five people who make between $97,680 and $149,890 combined annually.

A full breakdown of the income requirements to enter the housing lottery is below.

The building has a roof-deck, a laundry room and storage units available.

Nearby transit includes the N, W, and M trains and the Q101, Q19 and Q18 buses.

Tenants are responsible for electricity bills, including heating, while the landlord pays for hot water and cooking gas.

While the units are given out to eligible applicants through a lottery, some preference is given to applicants with vision, mobility and hearing disabilities.

The deadline to apply to the lottery is Dec. 19, 2019. Those eligible can apply online here.

email the author: [email protected]

34 Comments

Click for Comments 
It's how it is

The rent is affordable for Astoria. If someone can’t afford it move to another part of the city that’s cheaper. That’s how it works. Life owes you nothing, but the opportunity to get an education in order to have a better life is available to everyone. It may not be easy, but it is worth it. Otherwise you end up with minimum wage jobs and complain how unfair life is, when you’ve never done anything to help yourself in the first place.

3
19
Reply
Jess lev

This is the comment of someone who has most likely had things handed to him/her. As someone who went to a top 50 college and makes 6 figures – the rents in Astoria are
becoming outrageous. Chances are you’re also most likely not someone who grew up in the NYC area.

8
1
Reply
Eileen Bennett

If they are advertising for affordable housing maybe they should make it affordable. Just a thought!

14
135
Reply
Anonymous

Minimum salary requirements are 73k. Maybe economic variety is a good thing. Maybe the kid that hustled to make more than a minimum salary McDonalds employee wants to be neighbors with other like minded folks. Maybe there’s a real cost to construction and development which pays workers more than than minimum salary for their skilled labor. Maybe instead of begrudge others you build for yourself. First generation immigrant here, and know that with no hustle you don’t succeed. The spoiled kids are the biggest whiners.

10
7
Reply
Jane D

Ok, but the McDonalds, the bakeries, the coffee shops, the restaurants and bodegas, and all other small businesses and stores, and service jobs, still need workers. And they likely wont pay anywhere near these minimum salary requirements. That’s something that should probably be addressed too, but where should those workers live? If one’s going to claim to have ‘affordable housing’, it should probably include those workers. They need to be able to live and work here too.

5
1
Reply
It's not the government's responsibility

Why do you have to work in the same neighborhood where you live? The subway is not that expensive. $2.75. Maybe someone coming to work in Astoria from a poorer neighborhood might be motivated to do something with their lives so that they won’t have to take the subway just to work at McDonalds. People who dont’ try and expect the government to take care of them usually end up frustrated and bitter.

1
5
Reply
Jay Conboy

Affordable, for who?
It’s the people who are allowed to build these developments that are destroying this city and making it IMPOSSIBLE for regular everyday people to live…
if we fight and BLOCK these developments permission to be bought/built the rents may come down. They’re the ones who are killing normal working people, so they can fill their pockets with money.

17
Reply
Tyk

2 people …1050 each is affordable ..comes to 12,000 Each person must earn 36 ,000 per year. You can also have 3 and same combined income of 75,000…or each person must make 25,000 per year. ..paying $ 729.00 per month or 8,500 per year. 600 dollars a week or minimum wage of 15.00 per hour for 40 hours. .Yep…it meets the general guideline of rent between 25% of ones salary and not over 30%

2
2
Reply
RoomMates

Well, you would need to know what their sublet policies are regarding multiple subleases. I guess having roommates is definitely a big city concept. Do it or leave I suppose, but know the risks of having roommates if one chooses to leave and you can’t find a replacement.

Reply
ConcernedNeighbor

Subsidized gentrification will further push out low income earners.
Go and make more money is their solution at this point?

10
Reply
RoomMates

Sometimes, accepting reality is the only way to cope with inequality I suppose. Deal with it or leave kinda thing even if it’s wrong to support this type of capitalistic outcome?

Reply
Jay

That’s pretty much the standard price for any one bedroom in the area. Nothing special or affordable about that pricing. That’s about three same price as the mortgage on our co-op AFTER maintenance fees… This is either a typo, a joke or a developer gaming the system for trax breaks.

11
1
Reply
Bill Vaz

Making 150k in New York city is the equivalent of working at McDonald’s in West Virginia for 5 bucks and hour!

6
1
Reply
RoomMates

Absolutely, and it will be worth it to have roommates in the city as well. Proximity to everything fun if you enjoy the social amenities and the access to good restaurants that actually use quality ingredients. For the younger folks, there are so little reason to live outside the city with roommates. But that is just my opinion.

Reply
Lynn

LMAO – this is hysterical
“Affordable “ housing starting at $2150??? Hahahahaha
That is NOT affordable housing

37
1
Reply
Shelley

Lmfao, I live in Bloomington indiana and our rent is 1,000 a month for. 3 bedroom n that’s a bit high. You must have really good money

4
1
Reply
CarO73

Average 2- family home in Astoria is around $1.25mm and annual property tax over $7k…..
Are Bloomington prices similar to that?

1
1
Reply
This needs to stop!

Might just be me but feel like the average low income earner here in this neighborhood barely makes that much. Local and state government need to stop handing out tax breaks for these developments that don’t favor anyone but the developers. The units are above or at market rate for this area. This is ridiculous!

11
Reply
RoomMates

You know what they say and that is to vote for those that will represent you. Except neither the left or right have politicians that really want to address this issue to the degree that warrants actual solutions. What I am saying is that there is no money to be made fighting for low income housing or fixing the root cause of artificially inflated home prices and thus higher property tax revenue.

Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Flushing man charged with criminally negligent homicide in collision that killed youngster in East Elmhurst: DA

A Flushing man was criminally charged in connection to a fatal collision that killed an 8-year-old boy in East Elmhurst on Wednesday afternoon.

Jose Barcia, 52, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Thursday on charges of criminally negligent homicide and other crimes for running over Bayron Palomino Arroyo and injuring his 10-year-old brother in front of their mother while they were in the crosswalk at 31st Avenue and 100th Street.