After more than three years of waiting and hoping, housing lottery winner Tanya Dyer got the news she'd been dreaming of last night.

An affordable house with a harbour view in Southside will be ready for the single mom and her four sons this time next year, according to Housing Minister David Burch.

Clutching a floor plan of the four-bedroom unit after the announcement last night, she told The Royal Gazette:"I am so happy. I've often pictured myself walking into my home, going right into the master bedroom.

"The first thing I'm going to do is roll on the floors!We don't even have to have furniture. If we can move in before next Christmas we'll sleep on the floor and we don't even have to have a tree. It's just going to be so euphoric."

Ms Dyer, a Corrections Officer, is currently sharing a bedroom with her two youngest sons, aged six and nine, at her mother's apartment in Smith's. Her older sons, aged 12 and 24 are staying there too.

The family had to move out of their former two-bedroomed apartment in April, which she used to rent for $1,500.

"I've moved in with my mother which is very cramped quarters for everybody. It's rough. My mum's making a sacrifice. I'm making a sacrifice, not wanting to pay the rents that are out there of $2,500 to $2,900," she said.

"There's no way I was going to be able to save if I was paying that, so I made a sacrifice hoping this (lottery house) was going to materialise. I was beginning to doubt it but I e-mailed Minister Burch and he emailed back to tell us to keep the faith.

"This evening I am very relieved. With the economic situation in the US I was kind of thinking it was going to be a negative answer."

Ms Dyer said her Government job puts her in a better position than most in terms of pay and job security, although with her nine-year-old suffering from illness, things have been far from easy.

"I often wonder how other mothers make it," she said, explaining that she's been encouraging the other lottery winners to keep their spirits up and keep in touch – which means they've all bonded during the long wait.