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Q&A
Paper applications for affordable housing and the request process
0:53:29
·
3 min
Council Member Sanchez inquires about the process of requesting and submitting paper applications for affordable housing. HPD officials explain the tracking system, number of paper applications processed, and the role of marketing agents in handling these applications.
- 26,293 paper applications were logged in Housing Connect in 2023
- Marketing agents maintain logs of paper application requests
- Applicants can find marketing agent contact information on lottery advertisements
- Paper applications can be mailed or dropped off in person
Pierina Ana Sanchez
0:53:29
Switching gears to paper applications.
0:53:31
According to the 2025 marketing handbook, the marketing agent may receive request from an applicant to submit a paper application.
0:53:38
How does HPD keep track that the marketing agent is sending an applicant a paper application?
0:53:44
Do you know how many paper applications were added to Housing Connect in 2023 or '24?
0:54:35
So are the marketing agents reporting to HPD?
0:54:43
That's right.
0:54:45
And at the user level, how do I know how to contact the marketing agent?
0:55:32
So the marketing agent requires you to mail in your documents?
0:55:49
New York, New York City?
0:55:51
Or they have addresses available?
0:56:01
That has, by the way, just anecdotally, as I mentioned in my opener, that has not been my understanding.
0:56:08
My constituents will always complain that they can't get ahold of housing of paper applications, that they want to submit paper applications but they are not able to.
0:56:16
So I'd love to follow-up offline about what what is happening in in those instances.
Ahmed Tigani
0:53:49
So I can give the numbers, and I'll ask Emily to go through the process.
0:53:52
But in 2023, there were 26,293 paper applications logged in Housing Connect and seven yep.
0:54:01
Yep.
0:54:01
That 26,293 paper applications.
0:54:05
And Emily, you wanna go through that.
0:56:21
And just to add, so we actually, a couple years ago, moved the marketing agent the ability to market in this work, you now have to be a qualified marketing agent.
0:56:33
So there's a review, there's an ability for us to hold people accountable.
0:56:37
So yes, if people are hearing that kind of feedback, a, we would work closely with them to see if there are any other, there's any issues that we're not aware of, but beyond that, we have a, we now have a way of being able to hold folks accountable.
Emily Osgood
0:54:07
Sure.
0:54:07
So the process for requesting a paper application for an individual lottery also from that development also means that development maintains a log of all of the paper application requests that they receive, and the agencies can access or request that log of applications.
0:54:27
That is to your question about how do we make sure that everybody who requests a paper application got one.
0:54:53
The contact information if you're are we talking about paper applications specifically still?
0:54:57
The contact information for the marketing agent is on the lottery advertisement, so that you would see in a paper through advocates or other services online if you happen to be online, but certainly not necessarily.
0:55:14
The contact information is on that public advertisement and then the marketing agent responds with further contact information when they're providing you with your application and any follow-up correspondence through the mail.
0:55:28
So you'll have more contact information directly from them.
0:55:36
That's right.
0:55:37
You can also drop off documents.
0:55:40
That's a requirement we have as well, that that has to be possible if that's easier or more convenient for folks.
0:55:47
Are all marketing agents based in
0:55:55
Let me get back to you on that before saying definitively.