How Often Do New NYC Housing Lotteries Open?

If you're hoping for a predictable schedule—like "new lotteries every Monday" or "5 listings per month"—you'll be disappointed. NYC housing lotteries open when developments are ready, not on a calendar.

However, there are patterns. This guide explains what influences lottery timing, what you can reasonably expect, and why automated alerts are far more reliable than manual checking.

Is There a Set Schedule for NYC Housing Lotteries?

Short answer: No.

NYC does not publish a housing lottery schedule. There's no "lottery calendar" or advance notice system. New lotteries appear on Housing Connect when buildings are ready to accept applications, which depends on construction timelines, financing, regulatory approvals, and administrative processing.

This means:

• You cannot predict when the next lottery will open
• Some weeks have zero new lotteries
• Other weeks have 3–5 new opportunities
• Timing varies significantly by borough

NYC Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) and the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) coordinate with developers, but they don't announce lotteries until applications are live. This "just-in-time" approach means applicants must monitor Housing Connect continuously or miss opportunities.

What Influences When New Lotteries Open

Project Completion

Most NYC affordable housing lotteries are tied to new construction or major renovations. A lottery opens when:

• The building receives its Certificate of Occupancy (CO)
• Financing and regulatory approvals are finalized
• The developer and HPD/HDC agree on eligibility criteria and unit distribution

Construction delays, permit issues, or financing complications can push back lottery openings by weeks or months. This is why no schedule exists—the city can't predict exactly when each project will be ready.

Borough Demand and Development Activity

Some boroughs have more active affordable housing pipelines than others. Brooklyn and Manhattan tend to see more frequent lottery openings because they have more large-scale affordable housing developments under construction.

In contrast, Staten Island has fewer affordable housing projects overall, so new lotteries there are less frequent. The Bronx and Queens fall somewhere in between, with steady but unpredictable activity.

Developer Timelines

Private developers and nonprofit housing organizations operate on their own schedules. Once a building is ready, they work with HPD/HDC to launch the lottery. This process can take weeks, and there's no public visibility into when it will happen.

Administrative Approvals

Before a lottery goes live, HPD must:

• Verify unit counts and AMI distributions
• Confirm income limits and household size requirements
• Create the lottery listing and application portal
• Coordinate with the developer on marketing materials

This administrative work happens behind the scenes and contributes to the unpredictable timing of new lottery openings.

Typical Patterns (Without Promising)

While there's no schedule, NYC Open Data shows some loose patterns. These are observations, not guarantees.

Frequency Range

Based on NYC Open Data records:

• Slow weeks: 0–1 new lotteries
• Average weeks: 2–4 new lotteries
• Busy weeks: 5+ new lotteries

These numbers vary significantly by season, borough, and development activity. You cannot rely on these averages for planning purposes.

Some Months Are More Active

Anecdotally, spring and fall tend to see more lottery openings than mid-summer or late December. This may be related to:

• Construction timelines (projects finishing before winter or after summer)
• Fiscal year planning (city budgets and developer schedules)
• Holiday slowdowns (fewer staff processing applications in late December)

However, this is not a rule. Lotteries can and do open year-round, including during traditionally "slow" periods.

Borough-Specific Patterns

Brooklyn and Manhattan consistently have the most lottery activity. If you're only interested in one of these boroughs, you'll see new opportunities more frequently than someone focused solely on Staten Island.

That said, even high-activity boroughs can go weeks without a new opening. There's no way to predict when the next Queens or Bronx lottery will appear.

Why Checking Manually Doesn't Work

Irregular Timing

If you check Housing Connect every Monday, you'll miss lotteries that open on Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday. If you check on the 1st and 15th of each month, you'll miss everything in between.

Because lotteries open unpredictably, manual checking requires daily vigilance—something most people can't sustain.

High Cognitive Load

Remembering to check Housing Connect every day is mentally exhausting. Most people:

• Start with good intentions
• Check daily for a week or two
• Get busy or forget
• Miss opportunities during their "off" periods

This inconsistency is exactly how people miss lotteries. You check for three weeks straight, see nothing, take a break, and during that break, two Brooklyn lotteries open and close.

Missed Windows

Even if you catch a lottery when it first opens, you still need to track its deadline. If you don't apply immediately and forget to go back later, you've wasted your discovery effort.

Manual checking requires:

• Daily monitoring for new openings
• Tracking deadlines for multiple lotteries
• Remembering to apply before each deadline

This three-layer cognitive burden is why so many people miss opportunities despite "keeping an eye on" Housing Connect.

How Alerts Track New Openings

Public NYC Open Data Monitoring

NYC publishes all housing lottery data to NYC Open Data, a public API that updates daily. Email alert services query this API multiple times per day, checking for:

• New lottery IDs
• Changes to application start dates
• Updates to deadlines

When a new lottery appears in the dataset, the alert service:

1. Detects the new record
2. Extracts borough, AMI levels, and bedroom counts
3. Matches it against subscriber preferences
4. Sends email notifications within hours

This automated process runs 24/7, eliminating the need for manual checking.

Detection of New Records

The NYC Open Data API includes a unique lottery ID for each listing. Alert services maintain a database of known IDs and compare incoming data against this list. When a new ID appears, it's flagged as a new lottery opening.

This method is more reliable than scraping Housing Connect's website (which we don't do) because it uses official, structured data directly from the city.

Timely Notifications

Because alert services check the API multiple times per day, you're typically notified within a few hours of a lottery going live. This gives you a significant advantage over applicants who check manually once a week or rely on Housing Connect's general email list.

Borough Differences in New Listings

Not all boroughs have the same lottery frequency. Here's what to expect:

High Activity: Brooklyn and Manhattan

Brooklyn and Manhattan have the most affordable housing development activity. If you're focused on these boroughs, you'll see new lotteries more frequently—sometimes multiple per week during active periods.

Moderate Activity: Queens and the Bronx

Queens and the Bronx have steady but less predictable lottery openings. Some months are busy, others are quiet. If you're only interested in these boroughs, expect 1–3 new opportunities per month on average (but this varies widely).

Lower Activity: Staten Island

Staten Island has the fewest affordable housing lotteries. New openings may occur only a few times per year. If you're focused solely on Staten Island, patience is required—and alerts become even more critical because you can't afford to miss the rare opportunities that do appear.

Tip: If you're flexible on location, selecting multiple boroughs in your alert preferences increases your chances of finding a suitable lottery.

What "Open" vs "Upcoming" vs "Closed" Means

Open Lotteries

Open lotteries are currently accepting applications. You can apply now through the posted deadline (if one is listed). "Open" status means:

• Applications are live on Housing Connect
• You can submit your application immediately
• The lottery will remain open until the deadline passes

Upcoming Lotteries

Housing Connect does not have a formal "upcoming" category. Lotteries either go from non-existent to "open" instantly, or they remain invisible until launch. There's no preview or "coming soon" list.

If you see someone mention "upcoming" lotteries, they're likely referring to rumors, developer press releases, or their own speculation—not official Housing Connect data.

Closed Lotteries

Closed lotteries are no longer accepting applications. Once a lottery closes:

• You cannot submit a new application
• You cannot edit an existing application
• The selection process begins

"Closed" does not mean results have been announced. It just means the application window has ended.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

NYC housing lotteries don't follow a schedule. They open when developments are ready, which depends on construction, financing, approvals, and administrative processing. This makes the timing unpredictable and manual checking unreliable.

The best strategy is automated monitoring via email alerts. By tracking NYC Open Data continuously, alert services can notify you within hours of a new lottery opening—without requiring you to check Housing Connect every day.

Alerts won't increase your odds of being selected, and they won't change how often lotteries open. But they will ensure you're notified about every opportunity you qualify for, which is often the difference between applying to a handful of lotteries versus dozens.