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Affordable Housing Lottery Procedures-
These procedures shall be followed for all communities with an affordable program if an open-
enrollment and lottery is required. If a specific regulatory agency has specific procedures, those must be
followed and take precedent.
If a lottery is not public, the automated process is recommended. The manual process is only
recommended when a lottery is held in public.
I. APPLICATION COLLECTION & LOTTERY LIST SET-UP
Steps 1-4 should be completed whether the lottery will be manual or automated.
1. All applicants should be placed on the excel worksheet template. Use a separate worksheet for
each number of bedrooms available. A separate worksheet can also be used for applicants that
claim preference OR sort the workbooks by priority points and run those with preference
separately from those with it. The template should contain the following fields:
 First and last name
 Contact information (phone, email, address)
 Number of bedroom requested
 Preferences, if applicable
 Application date
 Number of household members
 Self reported household income/income qualification column
 Any additional fields requested by the regulatory agency
 Total Priority Points, if applicable
2. After the lottery is closed, no additional names can be added to the template. Make sure all
applications submitted on time are included in the lottery!
3. Identify anyone that would not be eligible due to either exceeding or not meeting the income
limits, incomplete applications or not meeting the occupancy standards. Place them on a “not
eligible” workbook.
4. Add a column to each excel worksheet for 1. Ranking (Column B) 2. Lottery Selection (Column
A)
II. AFFORDABLE LOTTERY: AUTOMATED PROCESS
5. There must always be at least two people present for the lottery selection process to ensure
procedures are followed accurately and the selection is fair. If required, the lottery selection will
occur in a public location and applicants may attend (see section III)

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6. Input the Random function into Cell A2:
o =RAND()
o A random number between 0-1 will populate.
7. Pull the formula down the entire column to generate a random number for each cell. NOTE: If
the worksheet contains applicants with priority points, you must run each group separately! i.e.
first applicants with 2 points, then those with 1 point, then those with 0 points.
8. Select ‘Calculate’ button two times to update the random number (for a total of three random
number generations). Be careful, as each time you select another cell it will re-run the formula!
9. Select the random numbers in Column A and ‘copy’ “paste special- values” so that the random
numbers cannot be edited again and will not change.
10. Sort the worksheet by Column A from smallest to largest random number. This is the final
lottery ranking order. NOTE: If you have more than one priority group, you must select the
specific rows of data to sort beginning with the second group.
11. Enter 1 for the first applicant on the list in Column B and drag the number for all applicants with
a random number. This will create the ranking number.
12. If applicable, repeat steps 6-10 for any applicants with a lower number of priority points, as
many times as needed.
o The ranking number should start again from where the prior priority group ranking
ended.
III. AFFORDABLE LOTTERY: MANUAL PROCESS
This method is recommended when the lottery is open to the public and the lottery pool is a
manageable size. It is possible to follow the automated method for a public lottery if a projector
displays the ‘ranking’ in real time, but the concept may be difficult for applicants to follow.
5. Assign a lottery number for each applicant in the excel sheet. You may utilize the random
number generator function (see above) to do this or create an individual unique number.

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6. Print out a list of the lottery numbers and names for each apartment type (one for each
program and bedroom type) and cut each lottery number into an individual slip of paper OR
write the number and name on an index card for each applicant by program and bedroom type.
7. Place all lottery numbers/names by the program type and number of bedrooms into a hat, bowl,
bag, etc.
8. Have a print-out available of the lottery list for reference. An electronic copy can be available in
addition to update in real time.
9. Pull numbers out of the “hat” for each bedroom type until they are exhausted and announce the
number/name as each one is selected.
a. The order of the selection is the order of apartment offers. i.e. the first number drawn is
ranked number one, the second number is ranked number two, etc.
10. Enter the ranking number into the ranking number column on the hard copy of the lottery list as
numbers/names are drawn. This may also be completed on an electronic version in real time,
but a hard copy should be used to expedite the process in a public venue.
a. All applicants ranked 1- X, where X is the total number of available apartments for each
bedroom type, are offered an apartment.
b. All applicants ranked higher than the number of available apartments are placed on the
waiting list, in order selected.
11. Repeat for each bedroom and/or program type.
12. When the lottery is over, if it was not already completed, enter the ranking number into the
electronic version of the lottery list and sort the worksheet by ranking number.
13. Submit the official lottery results and waitlist to the Affordable Housing Team in preparation for
entering the completed waitlist into SalesForce.