If you have been refreshing NYC Housing Connect waiting for a lottery with a real fighting chance, two new listings opened in May 2026 that deserve your attention before the deadlines pass. One sits a block from Grand Central. The other rises in Washington Heights. Both offer rents that look almost impossible against an April Manhattan median that StreetEasy and Brick Underground both pegged above $5,000 a month. Here is what New Yorkers should know about Willow Tree Residences and Artifact No. 636 — and how to actually file a winning application before the windows close in early summer.
Willow Tree Residences: 51 Studios at $1,122 a Month in Midtown East
Willow Tree Residences at 225 East 45th Street, between Grand Central and the United Nations, just launched a Housing Connect lottery for 51 low-income studio apartments at $1,122 a month. According to the listing reporting from 6sqft, the units are reserved for households earning 60 percent of the area median income, and the application window closes on July 3, 2026.
The 21-story building is a joint project from Monadnock Development and Project Renewal, designed by Dattner Architects. Above a 170-bed New Providence Women’s Shelter on floors two through seven, the rest of the tower contains 130 affordable apartments — 79 set aside for formerly homeless individuals and 51 for the income-restricted lottery that opened this month. A health clinic on the ground floor provides primary care, behavioral health, and dental services to residents and the surrounding community.
Amenities include a community room, a landscaped outdoor terrace, in-unit internet, a shared laundry room, and bike storage. Twenty percent of the units are set aside as a preference for residents of Manhattan Community District 6 (Murray Hill, Turtle Bay, Tudor City, and Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village). Transit is exceptional — the 4, 5, 6, and 7 subways, the Long Island Rail Road, and Metro-North are all walkable, plus multiple bus routes.
Apply through Housing Connect listing 7523 at housingconnect.nyc.gov. Questions go to NYC Housing Connect via 311.
Artifact No. 636: New Construction in Washington Heights
Further uptown, the Artifact No. 636 lottery opened in May for a new development at 636 West 158th Street in Washington Heights. According to New York YIMBY, applications are due no later than June 5, 2026.
Washington Heights is currently one of the few Manhattan neighborhoods where a median Manhattan rent still feels like a different city. Add a brand-new building with a Housing Connect lottery on top of that, and the math gets serious for renters earning at or below the targeted AMI bands. Confirm the unit mix, rent levels, and AMI percentages on the official Housing Connect listing before you apply — listing details on YIMBY are summary, and the city’s portal is the source of record.
How These Lotteries Fit Into the Bigger Picture
Both lotteries are landing in the middle of a market that punishes anyone trying to sign a market-rate lease. The April 2026 Manhattan rent report showed median asking rent at $5,099 and a 1.55 percent vacancy rate. Against that backdrop, a $1,122 Midtown East studio at 60 percent AMI is functionally a different city.
It is also worth keeping the timing change in mind. As covered in our recent SPEED reforms breakdown, the Mamdani administration is moving to compress lottery application windows from 60 days to 21 days. Willow Tree’s roughly two-month window may be one of the last of its kind. Future lotteries are likely to give applicants less time, not more.
How to Actually File a Strong Housing Connect Application
The biggest reason applicants get bounced is not bad luck — it is paperwork. A few practical rules that apply to both of these lotteries and every Housing Connect filing:
- One profile, one application per lottery. Duplicate applications get rejected. Keep your Housing Connect household profile current — income, household size, employer details.
- Match your income to the AMI band exactly. If a unit is set aside for households earning 60 percent of AMI, applicants earning above or far below that band do not advance. Check the AMI chart on the listing before you apply.
- Have your documents lined up before you are called. If your application gets pulled, you typically have a tight window — often two weeks — to deliver pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements, photo ID, and proof of address. Have them scanned and labeled now.
- Use a community preference if you qualify. Twenty percent of Willow Tree units favor Manhattan Community District 6 residents. If you live in CD6, document it in your Housing Connect profile.
- Do not pay anyone to apply for you. NYC Housing Connect is free. Anyone charging a fee to enter you in a lottery is running a scam.
Action Steps This Week
- Visit housingconnect.nyc.gov and create or update your household profile.
- For Artifact No. 636, search the public listings for 636 West 158th Street and submit before June 5, 2026.
- For Willow Tree Residences, search Housing Connect listing 7523 or “225 East 45th Street” and submit before July 3, 2026.
- Scan and label your income docs, photo ID, and proof of address now — do not wait for a callback.
- If you do not match the AMI band on these two listings, browse other live NYC lotteries and apply to anything you qualify for.
- Call 311 with any questions about Housing Connect — never pay a third party.
Lotteries are not a guarantee, but they are the only path in this market where the math actually works for renters at 60 percent of AMI. Filing two or three a month over a year is how people end up signing $1,122 leases instead of $5,099 ones.
