For those who’ve won the housing lottery... do you keep it a secret?

If you’ve won the housing lottery who have you told? Do you keep it on the DL or proudly shout it out on the rooftops?

So I won the housing lottery awhile ago. I moved from a crowded shoebox in Brooklyn to an absurd 1bd luxury apt in Midtown. I’m in the moderate income range so I pay about $2k/mo for this which is over double my previous rent... so this isn’t one of those $800/mo deals.

Anyway I’ve generally kept this on the DL as best I can. I never post photos of my apartment on social media and generally try to avoid attracting attention to my living situation. I maybe overly paranoid, but the day I won I was understandably excited and told a lot of people at work... the reactions were mixed. After awhile I could sense a level of resentment and immediately regretted letting that one out of the bag. Later on in the year I started a new job and tried to avoid divulging too much about my situation. When asked where I live I just say midtown... which isn’t a stretch for my age and career level but no way in hell would i would be able to afford the exact area and building type.

When people ask about exact locations I’ve caved and told them the intersection, and most react with a certain level of surprise... no way I could afford that... and I can only assume they think that my family is paying for it...

I’d rather tell them I won the housing lottery than they think that I’m a spoiled kid who’s parents pay for everything... they don’t. They’re very broke living off a pension.

At the end of the day I don’t care too much what people think, but I worry that I may be looked over for raises if management thinks I have a trust fund and don’t need their money (I’ve heard this is a thing from some of my friends who do have trust funds)...