Housing lottery preferences explained: local, veteran, displaced

In a housing lottery, a random drawing decides the order of applications. A housing lottery preference then moves some applicants ahead of the rest, so claim every preference on a listing that fits you. You need proof for each one, such as a lease or a utility bill to show where you live, so gather it before the deadline.

What is a housing lottery preference?

A housing lottery preference is a rule that gives one group of applicants first call on some or all of the apartments, as each lottery's own rules set out. The random drawing still happens. People with the preference are then offered the apartments set for them first, in drawing order, and everyone else follows. Some preferences cover only a share of the apartments, such as 10% or 20%, so once that share is filled, the rest go to the general drawing.

Preferences are different from requirements. A requirement, such as being 62 or older in a senior building, decides who can live there at all. A preference only changes the order, so people without it can still apply and may still get an apartment if enough are left.

What are the most common lottery preferences?

The most common preferences favor people who live or work nearby, veterans, people forced out of their homes, people with disabilities and city workers:

How does a preference change your place in line?

A preference can lift a low lottery number above a high one, as this example based on San Francisco's order for a new building shows. It assumes the building has enough apartments for each preference, so no share runs out. Ten people apply, and the drawing ranks them from 1 to 10. G and I have the Displaced Tenant Housing Preference, for people forced out of their homes. D and J live or work in San Francisco.

J drew the worst number and still ranks ahead of A, who drew number 1. If I were a veteran, I would move ahead of G, because San Francisco puts veterans first within the displaced tenant preference.

How do preferences work in San Francisco?

San Francisco runs its lotteries on DAHLIA, the city's housing website where you apply. Only one person on your application has to qualify for a preference for the whole household to rank higher. The city's preferences are:

• Certificate of Preference: for people forced to move by the former San Francisco Redevelopment Agency in the 1960s, 70s or 80s, and in some buildings their descendants. It ranks first.
• Displaced Tenant Housing Preference: for people forced out of their homes. It covers an eviction so the owner can move in and an Ellis Act eviction, when an owner takes a whole building off the rental market. It also covers a fire, rising rent in an affordable apartment and living in an illegal apartment. In a new building, it covers up to 20% of the lottery apartments.
• Neighborhood Resident Housing Preference: for people who live within half a mile of a new building, or in the same supervisor district, the area one city supervisor represents. It covers up to 40% of the lottery apartments.
• Live or Work in San Francisco: for people who live in the city, or work at least 75% of their working hours there.
• Veterans: veterans rank first within the Certificate of Preference, the Displaced Tenant Housing Preference or the Live or Work preference, so they must also qualify for one of those three.

The city's lottery manual sets this order for most new buildings, and a few kinds of buildings use a different order. Each listing on DAHLIA shows its own order, so read it before you apply.

How do preferences work in New York City?

New York City runs its lotteries on Housing Connect, the city's housing website where you apply. Under its marketing handbook, before the general drawing, the building's marketing agent (the company that runs the lottery for the building) fills these groups, in this order:

1. People with disabilities. At least 5% of apartments, or one apartment, for people with mobility disabilities, and at least 2%, or one, for people with vision or hearing disabilities.
2. Community district residents. People who live in the building's community district, the local area a community board serves. The city sets the share for each building.
3. City employees and veterans. In lotteries published since November 15, 2025, 10% of apartments, or one, go to this group. It covers households where one person is paid by the city or has served in the Armed Forces, National Guard or Reserves, with any discharge or length of service.

In each group, and then in the general pool, New York City residents are processed before people who live outside the city. These preferences apply to a building's first lottery, not to apartments rented again later, unless the building's agreement says otherwise. Apartments set aside for people with disabilities stay set aside.

How do preferences work in Massachusetts?

In Boston, the city's guide lists these preferences: a disability that needs an accessible home, Boston resident, first-time buyer, artist, older adult and veteran. Another covers people forced out of their homes or paying a very large share of their income in rent. Each lottery picks its own.

Across Massachusetts, homes sold or rented under state programs follow state marketing guidelines. A town can give a local preference, a place in line for people with ties to the town. It can cover no more than 70% of the affordable homes in a project, and the town must show the need. People who can count as local include current residents, town employees, people who work for local businesses and households with children in the town's schools.

A lottery with a local preference runs two pools, local and open, and local applicants are entered in both, which gives them two chances.

Can a Section 8 waitlist give a local preference?

Yes, within limits. A housing authority (the local housing office) runs a waitlist, a line of people waiting, for Section 8 vouchers, which pay part of your rent to a private landlord.

Federal rules ban requiring you to live in the area, but an office may give a preference to people who live in its county or city. It can't base the preference on how long you have lived there, and people who work there, or have been hired to work there, count as residents. Offices may also put working families first, and older adults and people with disabilities must get the same benefit as working families.

How do you prove a preference?

You prove each preference with documents, and the rules are strict:

• San Francisco. Send proof with your application. For the live or work preference, the papers must show your name and current address and be dated within 45 days of your application, or you don't get the preference. If you qualified when you applied and later move out of the city, you keep it. Veterans also send a photo ID and either a DD-214, the military discharge paper, or a benefit letter from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
• New York City. For the community district preference, show your address with a lease, a utility bill, an ID or pay papers. You must live in the district when you apply and while your application is checked, unless you are in a shelter and lived there before. City employees show city pay stubs, and veterans show a DD-214 or a Statement of Service, the letter the military gives people still serving.
• Everywhere. False information gets an application removed, so claim only the preferences you can prove.

What should you do next?

Read every listing's preferences before you apply, claim each one that fits, and keep copies of your proof ready. Then see the San Francisco listings, New York City listings and Boston listings you can apply for now, or the housing lotteries open now everywhere. Use our qualify check to see which ones fit your household.

Gather your documents before you apply, and learn what happens after the drawing. If you apply in New York City, check your odds to decide how many lotteries to enter.