housing lottery
Random home assignment
A housing lottery is a random selection process used to allocate scarce housing—typically affordable units, rent-controlled apartments, or desirable public housing—among qualified applicants.
Because demand far exceeds supply, a lottery replaces first-come-first-served or other methods: We entered the housing lottery for the new affordable building but didn't get picked.
The term is most common in cities with housing shortages.
- waiting listRecord of hopeful applicants
- raffleLottery for prizes
- affordableReasonably priced
- apartmentRented unit in building
- voucherRedeemable certificate for value
drawing · random selection · application · application deadline · income · tenant · queue · luck · beat the odds · lucky number · chance · selection · subsidized · eligibility · balloting · random · allocation · winning
- dormsdormitory, dorm rooms, residence life, dorms, dorm life
- HarvardHarvard Yard, Harvard Square, Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, Harvard alumni
- public housingcouncil estates, council flats, Section 8, council estate, council flat
- housingapartments, home, homes, apartment, condo
housing lotteryfirst-come-first-served
Priority by arrival order
waitlist · queue system · merit-based selection · seniority system · auction
housing, lottery, house, housed, houses, housekeeper, housekeeping, household, households