The housing lottery came to a close for the 2026–27 academic year last Thursday. Despite upcoming renovations to Reed House next academic year and the addition of laundry machines at Pine Street Apartments, housing trends remained fairly consistent from previous years, with a few notable differences.

In February, the Office of Residential Life (ResLife) announced that Reed House will undergo renovation during the 2026–27 academic year, resulting in 26 fewer spots available for sophomores to live in the College House System. With this change, Assistant Director for Residential Life Alex Gates ’22 predicted that housing typically left empty at the end of the lottery, such as Chamberlain Hall, might be filled by rising sophomores.

However, Gates shared that Stowe Inn triples and quints took the brunt of the housing burden from these students.

“There were not any major changes for sophomores. Buildings that are often selected late in the lottery (Chamberlain [Hall], Stowe Inn [and] Stowe Hall) had more selections. Stowe Inn especially had more people selecting into triples and quints,” Gates wrote in an email to the Orient.

For the rising senior class, forming six-member blocks was the most popular choice, with the six-person rooms in both Park Row and Harpswell Apartments filling before the eight-person rooms.

“Typically, we see more eight-member blocks because it is easy to reconfigure if necessary; that was not the case this year,” Gates wrote.

Rising seniors also selected rooms in Coles Tower less frequently this year, deviating significantly from last year, when Coles Tower was a popular choice for seniors after Harpswell and Park Row Apartments filled. Instead, many rising seniors opted for rooms in Brunswick Apartments, Pine Street Apartments and singles in various residence halls.

Despite the increase in Round 1 interest for singles and Pine Street Apartments, the rising junior class still had the usual access to these housing options in addition to increased selections within Coles Tower.

“Some rising juniors selected as high as the 14th floor of Coles Tower…. More than half of Pine Street Apartment rooms were still available at the start of the rising junior lottery, on par with previous years,” Gates wrote. “52 Harpswell doubles were slightly more popular, [and] singles were available for most rising juniors who wanted them.”

Last year, ResLife implemented a policy change for returning senior staff in which resident assistants (RAs) entered the typical housing lottery instead of the previous system, an internal lottery with reserved spots in Harpswell and Park Row Apartments. No changes were made to the policy this year, despite fewer RAs receiving housing in those buildings last year.