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School teacher and aspiring novelist Matthew Thomas won the jackpot in the New York apartment lottery when he scored his Upper East Side studio apartment, around the corner from Elaine’s, for just $14,000. Literally; the man won the right to buy the apartment in a lottery that makes available a minuscule number of apartments to people with incomes under $49,625. The units are part of 24 Mitchell-Lama co-op buildings in Manhattan and most applicants wait a decade for a shot at one.
The 32-year-old Thomas was living back at home with his mother when “housing ex machina” descended in the form of a letter from Maxwell-Kates, which manages the building, telling him that if all his paperwork was approved he’d be eligible to buy the apartment. Which he did, with a little help from Mom; now he just has to scrape together the $295 maintenance fee every month. Your heart bleeds for him, doesn’t it?
During the application process Thomas was understandably paranoid that the deal would slip through his fingers, so it wasn’t until he finally moved in that he broke the news to his friends, who are all just thrilled for him but probably wish he'd stop talking about. Still, as he told the Times, Thomas still can’t shake “this weird feeling that this will all be taken away from me by some Kafkaesque bureaucratic oversight.”
So naturally you want to know how you can get hooked up with a sweet deal like this, and not have to live with roommates in Bushwick at 45. Well here you go; if it works out you can invite Gothamist to the housewarming party.
Photo via The New York Times
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This is the most disgusting thing I've ever read here at the Gothamist, just utterly disgusting!
that's exactly what these things are, a lottery.
and one of the only ways to get a decent priced apartment in this city, unless you're rich, have a trust fund or constant help from mommy and daddy.
Real ny'ers had known of these lotteries for generations. it's also called a waiting list and should be one of the first things you do if you want to get your own place.
not hard, just do your research and have patience.
...so it wasn’t UNTIL he finally moved in...
That first sentence in the third paragraph is a trainwreck!
But, good for Thomas!
Good for him and all, but the UES isn't my cup of tea even at $14,000.
What happens when he writes a novel about his harrowing story and start making 50 grand a year instead of 49?
So... by not striving to make more money, you "earn" the right to an inexpensive apartment? Doesn't this just motivate people to work under the table or otherwise hide their income?
His mother's prayers were answered.
he's a teacher and went through a very thorough credit/finance/background check to get that co-op.
They may add a surcharge if his income is above the limits set and he may need to submit his financials every year for compliance.
are there abusers? I'm sure there are. just like the abusers for free money when 9/11 or Katrina occurred.
I should have put name on one of those lists 20 years ago. Sigh. Congrats to you!!
I don't get this. The NYTimes article says that this program benefits individuals with income "below $49,625."
Most of the Mitchell-Lama co-ops/rentals that I was able to find online set an income ceiling around $20,000 to $25,000/yr. for a single person looking for a studio. Have I missed something? How did Thomas pull off this coup?
This 32 year old lazy dumb fuck asshole living with mom couldn't even scrape together the $14,000 to buy the place himself? How pathetic is that? I hope his plumbing backs up and the ceiling falls on him in the middle of the night. He will probably have his mother come over at three in the afternoon to cook dinner for him, as well as show up at 6 in the morning to prepare the warm pablum that he has eaten for breakfast for the past 31 years.
If he wants to be a novelist then he should stock up on trash novels, not those books on his shelf that promote such things as, "How to live with Mom When You're over Twenty Five," "Finding a Woman When You're an Asshole," "How to Tell Elaine That She's an Old Fat Ugly Jewish Woman and Still Succeed as an Author," "Hair Replacement Treatment Options for Middle Aged Nerds that Their Mothers Prayed for to be Rid Of Fifteen Years Ago."
The article said that with a little help from his family and money that he himself had saved that Thomas was able to purchase the co-op.
Just great, the guy saved $4.00 by buying a monthly pass on the subway and chipped in to help pay for the place. The guy is a loser, plain and simple.
wait...I thought he bought the place? I can't imagine if he owns it they can take it away from him for making over the 49,6k.
you guys are such haters.
you're right, I can't even think of ownership in my situation. I'm a forever renter.
It appears that many people are jealous and bitter that this guy was smarter then them to apply for the Mitchell-Lama program Co-op waiting list. This program is open to everyone that is classified as middle income. In this case you must earn slightly less then $50,000 yearly to qualify for a studio apartment. It doesn't state what the minimum is but I would estimate about $25,000.
All residents that live in one of these Mitchell-Lama buildings are asked to re-certify their income each year. If your income goes up then your monthly rent/maintenance charge will rise slightly. The maximum increase is capped at double your original monthly charge for the apartment. In this case the maximum monthly charge could rise no higher then $590., but only if your income went up approximately 400%. Any resident can choose not to re-certify each year and just pay double their original rent/maintenance charge.
The apartment waiting lists are open to all citizens. However, before the building management will rent or sell anyone an apartment they'll have to pass a credit check, criminal backgound check, and income verification check. I'm sure the real reason some people are jealous of these great apartment deals is because they couldn't pass the background checks. Sorry fellows, no deadbeats or criminals allowed in Mitchell-Lama buildings.
XL4U, I don't think:
I think there is jealousy involved but also some questions of fairness.The salary cutoff is arbitrary. The program must be subsidized by someone which means our tax dollars are helping pay for him to live while he writes the Great American Novel.
Finally programs like this tend to be racist and classist, as the people who tend to find out about these waiting lists are the well-connected or well-educated. From both a liberal and a conservative perspective, programs like this are immensely flawed.
mike d way to conform to a culture of production and consumption you capitalist
I wouldn't hate him so much if he didn't have that smug look on his face. Don't buy his novel.
that's why I recommend people apply to the lists right after college when they are clean and green.
like XL stated, these opportunities are available for everyone. Just be patient, do your research and you'll get that postcard. you don't have to be well connected, the lists are advertised in the NY Post.
I find breaks for big corporation elitist and racist.
nonumentalart: Which part of production and consumption are you opposed to? Even under socialism we still need to produce goods and services and consume them in order to survive.
I know this charming fellow. He was referring to himself as an 'author' in casual conversation long before anyone paid him. Overly self-absorbed, but he wasn't particularly evil or stealing the food out of starving people's mouths.
He's educated and friends with true privilege, but not a full-blown trustafarian himself. There are worse people that sweet irony could have bestowed this gift from heaven.