Do you rent or own? Share your story with us for a chance to be featured in a future installment of Unlocked: forms.gle/jXxFsQnUtHNSHBDu6

Winner here as well, and this have allowed me to not only increase my income, but I can actually save close to 1000 dollars per month and pay off all my debt! It is really like winning the lottery!

Thank you so much guys, I had a wonderful time being interviewed by you ! ❤❤

The fact that this apartment would be over 5 grand a month if she hadn't won the lottery is crazy. Nobody should have to pay that much rent.

My daughter has recently been applying for the New York housing lottery. I sent this to her for inspiration on not loosing faith. Congratulations on finding your safe place.

My life would change so much if i had that extra $900 monthly. I could eat properly. Buy essentials when i need them. Restart my 401k. Not stress month to month. The list goes on. Good for her!

🙋🏽‍♀️ NYC housing lottery winner here and I can say rent control for my 2 bedroom apartment in BedStuy, Brooklyn is amazing, I love it 🙏🏽

After over 15 years I was finally called and my studio apartment is $1178 it will let me save so much money

I won as well. It's one of my biggest blessings! Congrats Nkenge! By the way I love your KZfaq channel.

$997 monthly rent with 5% increases every two years, yeah if I was her, I wouldn't move out for any reason, she's got it too good here!!

I love this for her. A safe, beautiful bright affordable space in the city you were born and raised has a tremendous impact on your well being. It's hard for those big city kids whose parent(s) couldn't get on the property ladder when prices were more affordable. They watch their neighborhoods become gentrified at a pace they can't keep up with.

Not me immediately Googling to see if there's a housing lottery in my state. So happy for this lady!

Congratulations to her for actually winning the lottery! I have been applying for a NYC Housing Connect apartment as a Native New Yorker for three years and still no luck! One day my application will be selected!

She truly won because rent in the Flatiron district is insane

Congratulations on winning the apartment lottery and being able to achieve your financial goals.

One-bedroom apartment market rates in her building $5903-$8153 a month, LORD JESUS!!!

My best friend in NY was telling me how his younger sister won a housing lottery, I was like wow I didn't know those things existed. Good for her

Congratulations lady Nkenge and the 9,999 other families who won the New York City Housing lottery in 2023 !!! God's continued best to you all always !

I done this in downtown Dallas and my apartment was $910 at the time and the market rent was $1500. It was such a steal and we call them in town units!

You should not need to win a housing lottery to be able to afford rent anywhere.

I've applied to over 1,000 A.F. housing apartments! Something in me refuse to stop😂😂😂 congratulations girl🙌🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Congrats to Nkenge, Stay Blessed. Good luck to all waiting patiently.

My daughter won a lottery getting into an apartment downtown Bklyn…it was hellacious..having to prove status every 4-6 months, cold water, ( we found out that lower incomes were on separate water lines.) and the only access to immenities was to pay a separate fee that was exorbitantly high. We were told that the status proving was random, but my daughter was selected 3-4 times a year. Complaints fell on deaf ears. My daughter worked in the area so saved a lot on carfare , but eventually after 3 years left and has since purchased a home. I am happy for Ms. Nkenge and hope she continues to enjoy her lovely home and neighborhood.

GLORY!!!!'m favoured, $140K every 3weeks! And am retired i can now give back to the locals in my community and also support God's work and the church. God bless America

I was earning only 40k a few years ago and I applied for these rent lotteries. I finally heard back from one them last year saying I won one. But I earned more after 3 years wait so I no longer qualified. I almost cried out when I was reading that rent offer letter, and there was a moment that I seriously considered if I should just quit my job to move in that apt....

She has excellent taste

Super happy she won , it’s tons of people like myself and others who are born and were raised their whole life in nyc but can’t get an apartment through housing connect it sucks. I love the pricing and amenities that come with her apartment. Must be nice I hope to win soon.

Absolutely insane that people need to hit a housing lottery in NY to afford to exist there. The way things work is NOT normal and neither is folks willing to pay $6000+ to live in NY.

*DONALD NATHAN SCOTT.*

You give me hope. I have been waiting for 3 years.

I hope she says there for as long as she can. Very nice place in a beautiful part of the city

Wonderful! You really did win the lottery!

Wow I had no idea affordable housing in NYC could be so nice! Congrats to her 🎉 hopefully, others will get the opportunity since the city’s so unaffordable for many.

I love your style and furnishings, especially al the plants. Beautiful.

The housing lottery is definately a game changer, especially in NYC.

Wow - you did a beautiful job decorating that apartment - love it! And love the kitties :)

Beautiful home. Nicely designed by her.

yay extremely happy for her ❤everyone deserves a nice place to stay

I also live in an apartment i won through the lottery. Its been a life saver. With my income i wouldn't be able to afford to stay in NYC. Unfortunately there are a lot of hurdles just to get the apartment.

THERE ARE NYC LOTTERY APARTMENTS FOR PEOPLE MAKING OVER $150K. IT'S NOT JUST FOR LOWER INCOMES! You need to apply to buildings you're qualified for based on YOUR INCOME AND FAMILY SIZE!

I love it they gave it to the right person because I see people win those and the place look crazy plus being SOLO is a Plus keep going queen 👑

So happy for her, this is awesome.

So happy to see it work for someone! For those not from NYC the lottery prices can vary greatly. It varies on building, location, income, family size and apartment size. For me personally most I have looked at applying for would actually be more than the place I found but I still keep my eye out as a native NYer. Regardless she got truly blessed and so happy for her.

HAPPY FOR HER ❤

My three favorite channels: CNBC Make It, Stock Brotha, & How Money Works. Make my week complete! 🔥 🔥 🔥

Congrats on winning the apartment lottery! Your home is beautiful, airy and bright. Looks like a wonderful relaxing space to be in. Thanks to share it with us 😊

I won the housing lottery myself. Brand new apt in a great neighborhood

won a lottery after applying for close to 5 years, just for them to tell me all of the one bedrooms and two bedrooms were taken. was offered a studio with them knowing i have children.. broke my heart having to give up a beautiful apartment because of the space.

Good for her everyone deserves a safe, comfortable home they can afford. And she has really made the space her own.

We have the lottery system in DC as well, but its based on income and they check your income every year. If you are slightly over the yearly amount, you have to move out. Its such a bogus system. Throw the whole thing away if you ask me. I was #1 at this one spot, and because I made a few $100 dollars over the requirement, I could not move there.

This is a great story worth being told! We look forward to seeing her step into home ownership in the next few years ❤

I lived in NYC for 13 years and got called back many times from lottery housing. First couple times I lost my job so I couldnt move forward in the process. The ones after, I had already gotten my own luxury apt in the Bronx (yes, there are many luxury buildings there) so I wasn’t going to break my lease. Right before I moved to Florida at the end of 2023, I got called back like 10 times for different buildings but didnt take them because the rent was what I was already paying since my income had gone up. I also wanted to leave NYC. But its crazy how once I started making more money, the more call backs I was getting. I think its because the lower income brackets have so much competition.

That's insane and congrats! It must be amazing to be able to save money!! I'm in Seattle and pay $1800+ utilities and they could EASILY charge $2400/month for my condo but I've been here for 8-9yrs and the landlord has been super amazing and kept the rent the same. That said, my wife and I live on my sole income(she's disabled and currently fighting to get disability)which at times can leave us with a couple hundred bucks to live on/a month. If I wanted the Seattle equivalent to the NY rent lottery, it's about a 10 year waitlist for the affordable housing program here which is..well..absurd? Crazy? I just can't believe we have to go to such lengths just to get by like "normal folks". The thought of buying a house/condo anywhere within several hundred miles is so outta reach, I've NEVER considered it! I hope something changes but as it goes it looks like corporate conglomerates and property companies will own all of the land/housing over the next couple decades and the younger generations will never have access to the generational wealth that we're supposed to be building with owning our own homes... Sad! Sad that for it to even be a POSSIBILITY, one has to win a "Housing Lottery"... Sorry for the rant but I hope someone reads this that may not have been exposed to this perspective, unique it is not.

This is super inspiring and gives me some kind of hope.

Beautiful apt, beautifully decorated. Happy for you!

So, as a New Yorker born and raised, let me tell you about these apartment lotteries... Every new luxury construction is now required to set aside a certain number of units for low income housing. Sounds great right! Wrong! 1. They don't advertise them: There is a website (housing connect) that you can check periodically to see what's available across the five boroughs. However, don't look for ads, they don't exist. 2. The income and houshold guidelines are typically so strict, that virtually no one can meet them and those that do, don't know these exist. 3. If said units are not rented within a certain period of time, they are allowed to go back on the market at fair market value. But hey, that's NYC living! That's exactly why I left. LOL!

This is fantastic! So happy for you, Nkenge!

FELICIDADES👏 Your home is as beautiful, warm, bright, and welcoming as you and your really gorgeous smile. My first time learning about the housing lottery.

Congrats young lady in so many levels! Great location, luxury building, affordable rent, a nice comfy unit illuminated by much natural light! ENJOY for years to come!

I'm super happy for her. However, so many people abuse the system which is why I don't like it. There are countless people who win these lotteries and then rent the apartment and live somewhere else. I worked with a Portuguese woman who did that.

I love how she decorated her place. So cute.

Love this for you! ❤❤❤❤

I wish the US would stop sponsoring wars everywhere and focus on the wellbeing of its own people like her. Provide your own people with affordable housing, free or affordable education and free healthcare. It's Americans like her who are paying taxes, they deserve ALL of it back!

Her apartment is beautiful! She did a great job furnishing it

My mother and brother live in an affordable apartment. Not through the lottery but after a decade on a waitlist. It's a two bedroom for a little over 1700 a month. The rents do go up if your income increases as you have to recertify every year or two years depending on your lease. She's lucky to have gotten something with such low rent as anyone that has applied for the housing lotto knows that the rents in many of these apartments are insane. My friend got called back for two (we work for the city) and she had to turn them down because it was like 2500 up for each.

Nkenge, so happy for you. ENJOY!!!!!

I know you say you want to save to buy a house but please never give up your beautiful and affordable apartment!!! That is priceless 🤩🤩

Congrats we need more of these stories! 🙌🏾 I’m throwing my hat in to for the NYC lottery 😉

She is awesome. I’m so happy for her.

The housing affordability crisis nationwide is so bad you have to win a lottery to get something you can afford just think about that. I pay 4011 a month for a 2 bed 2 bath in SF at 1100 sq ft. It's insane.

I'm glad she got it at the same time you have to verify your income and all your financial information with them every year. I know someone who won and it's a great program but there are restrictions depending on the building. Some buildings don't allow housing lottery people to use certain amenities too. If you're more middle or upper middle class the apartments cost more than market rate apartments sometimes.

Very happy space, and I love your cats!

I left a rough home at 17 and was very poor for a very long time. Housing was always a struggle and I lived in some appalling and precarious situations. Sometimes, I had to stay with sexual predators, in filth and surrounded by drugs, just so I wouldn't be on the street. I finally built a career for myself and was doing okay, when middle age approached and all those injuries from the child abuse caught up to me and I became physically disabled and unable to work. This happened just as housing prices in my city sky rocketed above those in NYC. Imagine the terror! A few years later, I met my husband, who was also poor, and a single father too. He started a small business that is now doing very well and two years ago we bought a house! I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to feel secure in my housing for the first time in my life. But here's the thing: I'm 53 and I still have nightmares about homelessness. In these nightmares, I struggle horribly to find an apartment I can afford and somehow make into home that I will never leave. Those years of poverty stick with me. In these nightmares, I long for something exactly like what this woman has. It makes me feel calm and relaxed just watching how calm and relaxed she is knowing that she has a really decent home that she can afford and can keep as long as she wants. Her story would be the perfect ending to my nightmares, turning them into dreams come true for my younger self.

Beautiful apartment and such a blessing!😍

Good for her. I love the lighting and the way she decorated.

I’m so happy for her, that’s amazing. Good for her!

She looks so prosperous. More people need low rent so they can access happiness.

I am happy for you!! This is amazing ! May you continue to flourish ❤

I live in an affordable luxury building that I won via the New York City housing connect lottery. A lot of these buildings are going downhill because the clientele is horrible especially the tenants that are being moved into these buildings from the homeless shelter. My building is currently full of bonnets,bad BBLs, and unruly children.

OMG, I am from Brooklyn! Cool NYC apartment! You go girl.

I had my housing for 14 yrs and I’m thankful because with my income I wouldn’t be able to afford the rent it makes you appreciate having a roof over your head even more as high as inflation is

Congratulations

Happy for her! I wish we had this in South Florida. The prices here are outrageous!

Love her style and interior design

Congrats on getting into a nice affordable housing unit in a major city. It's tough to get picked and get a nice place that's affordable. Glad it went to a New Yorker native too.

this is misleading, if you applied with 110k income, youd get an apartment with like $-500 less rent than market price

She was really persistence and i love this for her. More cities should do this!! Also where did you get that thing for her jewelry? I love that

Wow, you are an inspiration I pray I do pray that I will be blessed indeed in the near future as you were!

You did indeed hit the lottery with this apartment! You're blessed.

The value of this cannot be overestimated. It looks lovely and you will bring much to a tight and competitive microcosm. Enjoy! 👏✌️🐾

My daughter won the housing lottery too. It enabled her to be able to live in the neighborhood she grew up in which would have been out of her reach due to gentrification! This needs to be offered more widely!

$7000 on furniture ? Down payment on a house smh

beautiful home!! love the greenery in this apartment!

Congratulations to this beautiful young lady. She has a great speaking voice and great camera presence. Her apartment is beautifully decorated.

you might have won the lottery but you've also made that home so beautiful. so cozy. congrats!!!!

You are so sweet and such an inspiration to everyone!❤❤❤

Amazing lady! I am so happy for you! ❤ -Tachelle

Congrats 💯💯💯

I’m still waiting the video but i just wanted to say congrats on winning the housing lottery. I hope this give you the break you and most of us need. What an amazing opportunity.

God Bless you, Sis!! What a beautiful space!