November 12, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York, NY – At today’s New York City Council Stated Meeting, Council Member Eric Dinowitz introduced a legislative package designed to improve the Housing Connect platform, vastly improving and streamlining the City’s affordable housing lottery application process. The legislation – Intro. 1463-2025 and Intro. 1464-2025 – aims to eliminate the harmful and unnecessary bureaucratic barriers that make it so difficult for residents to not just apply for affordable housing, but also receive timely updates on their applications.
Intro. 1463-2025 requires the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to create a brand new, centralized webpage within Housing Connect that allows designated housing assistance organizations, such as West Bronx Housing, to access and manage accounts on behalf of users who authorize them to do so. These organizations that serve older adults, people with disabilities, people who are currently unsheltered, and other vulnerable populations that face the most extreme barriers to housing, would be able to view available units, submit applications, track application progress, and receive notifications about units that match their client’s criteria.
Each year the City Council allocates millions of dollars to these trusted community-based organizations (CBOs) to assist applicants directly. With this bill, they will be empowered to do their crucial work, getting New Yorkers into housing, and maximizing the funding they get by speeding up the process as a whole. As New York City endeavors to build thousands of affordable units every year, our CBOs are tasked with ensuring that the people who most need these units get them.
Building off the idea of a more streamlined Housing Connect, Intro. 1464-2025 requires the Human Resources Administration (HRA) to ensure that all public assistance documents required for applying to an affordable housing unit are available in an applicant’s Housing Connect portal upon request.
Hard-working New Yorkers do everything they can to get by, often juggling jobs, childcare, and the daily pressures of making ends meet. Our government systems designed to support them should make life easier, not create new obstacles. Yet for too many families, the housing lottery process becomes an unnecessary hurdle, requiring applicants to repeatedly track down and submit documents they have already provided to our government through HRA. This bill addresses that burden head-on by streamlining the housing lottery application process for public assistance recipients and ensuring that our city meets people where they are.
Together, these bills will get us closer to ending the scourge of homelessness, combating the escalating housing crisis, and ensuring that New Yorkers, regardless of age, immigration status, or physical ability, can stay in their homes and stay in the City.
“Every person living in our city deserves a safe, affordable home, but the mechanism to obtain one is too often dysfunctional and runs counter to our mandate to prevent and end homelessness,” said Council Member Eric Dinowitz. “Housing Connect, the City’s primary housing application portal, must operate as efficiently as possible so we can truly serve New Yorkers. Our incredible City Council–funded CBOs are doing this work every day, yet they are constantly thwarted by deficiencies and inefficiencies in Housing Connect. At the same time, city agencies continue to force people to submit redundant paperwork. These pieces of legislation will ensure that our system actually helps New Yorkers secure a home they can afford and enables them to live with comfort and dignity.”
“For service providers like West Bronx Housing, we often find ourselves facing many of the same unnecessary bureaucratic barriers that frustrate those who come to us seeking help with their housing search,” said Executive Director of West Bronx Housing Joshua Stephenson. “These bills would not only make it easier for New Yorkers to apply for affordable homes that meet their actual needs, but would also empower service providers to better help New Yorkers by bridging the technological and linguistic gaps that hinder our clients’ hunt for a place to live. Thank you to Council Member Dinowitz and his colleagues for supporting this important legislation which will help people secure and remain in the safe, affordable homes they deserve.”
“As someone who has spent years working to make our city’s data and digital systems work for the public good, I see these two bills as essential steps toward a fairer housing landscape,” said Noel Hidalgo, Executive Director of BetaNYC, a public interest tech and open data non-profit. “These two bills seek to make the affordable housing process more accessible, transparent, and equitable – ensuring that all New Yorkers, regardless of age, language, or income level, can more easily apply for and secure a safe, affordable home. By recognizing the vital role of community-based organizations and reducing the paperwork burden on tenants, the Council is helping to turn our values of digital equity and housing justice into real, lived experiences for New Yorkers — and we look forward to these tools being built with the communities that need them the most.”
The Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, Inc. proudly supports Council Member Eric Dinowitz’s legislative package—Intro. 1463-2025 and Intro. 1464-2025—to improve Housing Connect and streamline the affordable housing lottery process,” said Chief Executive Officer of the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center Raye Barbieri. “KHCC serves over 6,500 families annually, and we see first hand how unnecessary bureaucratic barriers and redundant paperwork prevent even the most diligent applicants from finding affordable housing. These bills will empower community organizations like KHCC to help families navigate the system more effectively and eliminate the frustration of submitting the same documents multiple times. When families can secure stable, safe homes without facing impossible obstacles and delays, our entire community grows stronger. We’re grateful to Council Member Dinowitz for his leadership in removing barriers and ensuring Bronx families can find safe and affordable housing, and remain in the city they call home.”
“Community Board 8 applauds Council Member Dinowitz for advancing legislation that tackles one of the most persistent challenges our residents face: navigating the affordable housing system,” said Community Board 8 District Manager Farrah Kule-Rubin. “We frequently hear from constituents who are overwhelmed by Housing Connect’s complexity or discouraged by delays in communication. This legislation will make the process fairer, more transparent, and easier for residents in our district and across the city.”
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