Toei Housing Applications in Tokyo: November 2026 Deadline Nov 17, Eligibility and Competition (15x in the 23 Wards)

Toei housing applications in Tokyo

The deadline for the November 2026 regular round is November 17 for both online and postal applications.
Family units require living in Tokyo, while single-person units require 3 years in Tokyo and being 60 or older; both have income limits.
Families of 2 or more can also apply first-come, first-served at any time for vacant units through rolling applications.

This page is a general guide, not advice on your own eligibility. For your case, ask the Toei Housing Application Center of JKK Tokyo, phone 03-3498-8894.

Toei housing (public housing run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government) has a lottery-based regular round 4 times a year, in May, August, November and February. Families of 2 or more can also apply first-come, first-served at any time when units are free (rolling applications). For the November 2026 round, the deadline is Tuesday, November 17, for both online and postal applications.

In short

You apply online (on the Toei housing applicant site) or by post. No supporting documents are needed when you apply.
Family units require you to live in Tokyo; units for single people require living in Tokyo for 3 years or more and, for example, being 60 or older. Both have an income limit.
In May 2026 the average competition was 15.3 applicants per unit in the 23 wards and 3.1 in the cities of the Tama area. Even after winning, you cannot move in unless you pass an eligibility check.

Checked with official pages on October 27, 2026 (Japan time).

How to choose among Toei housing rounds (timing, how winners are chosen, move-in)

A family that wants to move in sooner: rolling applications (first-come, first-served; move-in about 3 to 5 months after applying if the eligibility check goes smoothly).
A family that wants to choose the ward or city: the May and November regular rounds (lottery), or the February and August regular rounds (a points system based on how badly you need housing).
A single person: the single-person units in the 4 regular rounds a year, or in the monthly rounds in April, July, October and January.
A couple planning to marry: the monthly round for people planning to marry (fixed-term housing).

The 4 kinds of Toei housing rounds compared

The regular rounds are held 4 times a year, in May, August, November and February. May and November use a lottery for both family and single-person units, while the February and August family rounds use a points system. Applications are handled by the Toei Housing Application Center of JKK Tokyo. JKK Tokyo: regular rounds 4 times a year for families and single people (Japanese)

Round	When	For	How winners are chosen
Regular round	May, November	Families, single people	Lottery
Regular round	February, August	Families / single people and “Silver Pier” units	Points system for families; lottery for single people
Monthly round	Mid to late each month	People planning to marry; single people (April, July, October, January only)	Lottery
Rolling applications	Any time	Families of 2 or more	First-come, first-served

In the points system, your housing situation form, sent with the application, is used to judge how badly you need housing, and people with the highest need go on to the eligibility check first. The lottery uses a “serial number method”: one draw sets a single winning order shared by all the application districts.

The monthly round for people planning to marry has also accepted people within 6 months after marriage since April 2026. The round for young couples and child-raising households was removed from the monthly rounds in April 2026, and since August it is accepted as first-come, first-served rolling applications. JKK Tokyo: monthly rounds (Japanese)

The units in rolling applications are some of those that received no application in the regular and monthly rounds. In the 23 wards they include Adachi and Katsushika wards, and in the cities and towns they include Hachioji, Machida, Higashimurayama and Higashiyamato. If you apply, you withdraw your applications for other Toei housing. For applications received from August 1, 2026, if you decline a rolling-application unit you cannot apply for rolling applications again until 180 days have passed. You apply online or by phone on the dedicated line (03-5467-9266); there is no counter service. JKK Tokyo: rolling applications for families (Japanese)

The November 2026 regular round runs from November 2 to 17

For the November 2026 round, online applications are accepted from November 2 to 23:59 on November 17, and postal applications that reach the Shibuya Post Office by November 17. The round covers the lottery-based family and single-person units, with 3,802 units in total: 3,050 for households, 450 fixed-term units for young couples and child-raising households, and 302 units where someone died of illness inside the room. JKK Tokyo: November 2026 regular round (Japanese)

Item	Schedule (2026)
Online application	November 2 to 23:59 on November 17
Application forms handed out	November 2 to 11 (downloads until 18:00 on November 11)
Postal deadline	November 17, must arrive at Shibuya Post Office
Competition table published	About 18:00 on December 21
Lottery event	December 23, 1st-floor hall of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No. 2

Source: JKK Tokyo, November 2026 regular round page (checked October 27, 2026).

The online applicant site is open from 5:30 to 1:00 the next day, and you must register as a user first. The lottery number and the result arrive by email, and from the next round you can copy the household details you entered last time. The Toei Housing Application Center does not operate the application screens for you. Toei housing applicant site (Tokyo Metropolitan Government Housing Policy Headquarters) (Japanese)

Application forms are handed out at the Toei Housing Application Center, JKK Tokyo’s service centers, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, and ward, city and town offices. On November 3 (holiday), 7 (Saturday) and 8 (Sunday), they were also handed out (these days have passed) from 9:30 to 17:00 in front of the Tokyo Tourist Information Center on the north side of the 1st floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No. 1. Only 1 application per household is valid: if you send 2 forms, or apply both online and by post, all of them become invalid.

Attending the lottery event does not affect the result. The winning numbers are posted on the 1st floor of the Building No. 2 from about 14:00 on the day of the lottery, and results arrive by email for online applications and by postcard for postal ones.

Video from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s official channel (Japanese): “Toei housing for people like you”

Who can apply for Toei housing, and what are the income limits?

For family units you must meet all of these: the applicant is an adult living in Tokyo, a relative lives with you, your income is within the limit, you need housing, and you are not a member of an organized crime group. Units for single people add these: you have lived in Tokyo continuously for 3 years or more, you have no spouse, and you meet a condition such as being 60 or older or holding a disability certificate. JKK Tokyo: Toei housing recruitment information (outline of eligibility) (Japanese)

Family size	General category	Special category
1 person	Up to ¥1,896,000	Up to ¥2,568,000
2 people	Up to ¥2,276,000	Up to ¥2,948,000
3 people	Up to ¥2,656,000	Up to ¥3,328,000
4 people	Up to ¥3,036,000	Up to ¥3,708,000
5 people	Up to ¥3,416,000	Up to ¥4,088,000

Source: JKK Tokyo, income standard table (PDF, checked October 27, 2026). The amounts are annual income as defined by the program, not gross pay.

The special category applies to households with someone who holds a disability certificate (such as physical disability grades 1 to 4), households where the applicant is 60 or older and everyone living with them is 60 or older or under 18, and households with a child up to the end of high school age (until March 31 after turning 18). For families of 7 or more, add ¥380,000 for each extra person. You can also check whether you fall within the standard with JKK Tokyo’s income standard simulator. JKK Tokyo: income standard table (PDF) (Japanese)

“Needing housing” means that neither the applicant nor a relative living with them owns a house or land, or is the named tenant of UR, public corporation or public housing. Even if you live in UR or public corporation housing, you can apply if your rent is 20% or more of the household’s monthly income, or if you are a single-parent or elderly household. You also cannot apply while living apart from your spouse. JKK Tokyo: eligibility for family units, May and November rounds (PDF) (Japanese)

The young couple and child-raising household units (fixed-term housing) in the November round are for couples, couples with children, and single parents with children, where everyone is under 40, among other conditions. They are fixed-term for 10 years in principle; if you have a child at that point, the term is extended until March 31 after the youngest child turns 18. JKK Tokyo: eligibility for young couple and child-raising household units (PDF) (Japanese)

Competition, priority lottery and local quotas in Tokyo

In the May 2026 regular round, the average competition for household units was 15.3 applicants per unit in the 23 wards and 3.1 in the Tama-area cities. In the 23 wards, 20,541 people applied for 1,344 units; in the cities, 5,240 applied for 1,706 units; overall, 25,781 applied for 3,050 units, or 8.5 per unit. JKK Tokyo: May 2026 competition table by ward, city and town (PDF) (Japanese)

The 23 wards differ greatly. In May 2026, Chuo Ward had 472 applicants for 7 units (67.4 per unit), Meguro Ward 417 for 5 units (83.4) and Shibuya Ward 198 for 2 units (99.0). Adachi Ward had 1,528 for 272 units (5.6) and Katsushika Ward 958 for 122 units (7.9).
Some cities have low competition. Hachioji had 487 applicants for 249 units (2.0), Machida 244 for 98 units (2.5) and Ome 12 for 18 units (0.7).
In the May and November household rounds, some districts have a “priority lottery”: single-parent households, elderly households, households with a person with a physical or mental disability, and households with 3 or more children under 18 get 7 lottery numbers (7 times the chance), and households that include a person with a mild disability get 5.
Besides the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s round, some wards and cities hold “local quota” rounds for local residents around May, August, November and February, on their own schedules. Check the ward or city newsletter or office.

If you apply with priority-lottery eligibility and win, but the eligibility check shows you do not meet the priority conditions, you are disqualified even if you qualify in the general category. JKK Tokyo: priority lottery eligibility (PDF) (Japanese) The recruitment page says that companies offering to apply on your behalf have no connection with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government or JKK Tokyo.

From lottery to move-in (example: the May 2026 round)

Even if you win, you cannot move in unless you submit the documents for the eligibility check and pass; winners of the May 2026 round are expected to move in between December and about August next year. Using the May round’s schedule as an example, the steps are as follows. JKK Tokyo: May 2026 round, schedule from application to move-in (PDF) (Japanese)

Apply (May 7 to 21). You do not submit documents such as a withholding tax slip or a residence certificate at this point.
Lottery number notice (an email on June 12 for online applications), the lottery event (June 26), then the result notice (an email on July 3 for online applications).
Winners receive an eligibility check notice between late July and early December, and submit documents and take the check between August and December.
The pass notice arrives in about 1 month in principle after the documents are complete, and an offer notice follows in the order that vacancies appear in your applied district. You cannot choose the building, layout or floor.
About 1 month before the permission date you can view the unit once on a weekday, and you must move in within 15 days of the permission date.

When you move in, you pay a deposit of 2 months’ rent (usage fee) and must register 1 adult living in Japan, or 1 company, who does not live with you, as a contact. Reserve applicants move up in order when winners decline or new vacancies appear.

Ward and city housing is recruited separately by each ward and city

Ward-run and city-run housing is recruited separately from Toei housing, and the timing and where to apply differ by ward and city. For example, Setagaya Ward holds public lotteries for its ward housing twice a year (June and November) and plans a November round in 2026. Setagaya Ward: ward housing and public housing (Japanese)

For Machida City housing and Nakano Ward housing, JKK Tokyo gives the recruitment information. For people over the income limit for Toei or ward housing, there are JKK Tokyo’s public corporation housing and UR rental housing, and both are first-come, first-served.

FAQ

Can I apply for Toei housing if I do not live in Tokyo?

No. The applicant must live in Tokyo. For family units it is enough to live in Tokyo when you apply; for single-person units you must have lived in Tokyo continuously for 3 years or more. Both are checked with a copy of your residence certificate.

Does applying both online and by post improve my chances?

No. Only 1 application per household is valid, and if you send both online and by post, all of your applications become invalid. Applications are also invalid if the same person’s name appears in 2 or more of them.

Can I apply for a regular round and rolling applications at the same time?

No. If you apply for rolling applications, you withdraw your applications for other Toei housing. You can apply for the regular and monthly rounds at the same time, and the move-in procedure goes ahead for whichever you pass first.

Fees and hours are subject to change.

Sources

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