SEATTLE—March 20, 2008—In March 2008, as it did in 2006, Seattle Housing Authority will create a new waiting list for its Housing Choice Voucher program (Section 8) by means of a mail-only lottery.

The 2006 lottery produced a waiting list of 4,000 households chosen at random by a computer program. All households on that list have been contacted, and so a new list is needed.

Asked why the agency is again conducting a lottery to create a waiting list for the popular program, Barbara Strayer, Section 8 program manager, said, "We feel it’s the fairest way. Nobody has to rush down to get first-come, first-served forms; everybody who mails in the form will have an equal chance." She pointed out that the actual "drawing" of names is done by a computer using a random selection procedure.

Printed lottery sign-up forms will be available beginning Tuesday, March 25 at most SHA offices and facilities, at every Seattle Public Library branch, Seattle Neighborhood Service Center, Seattle Community Center, and DSHS Community Service Center located within Seattle city limits, and at other locations, including the offices of many social service agencies.

Starting on Tuesday, March 25, the lottery sign-up form will also be available for downloading and printing from the SHA website, www.seattlehousing.org.

Any person 18 years old or older (or an emancipated minor) may sign up for the lottery no matter where he or she lives. Only one person per household may sign up.

After the mail-in deadline, Seattle Housing Authority will send a postcard acknowledging receipt to everyone who has sent in a sign-up form. Once all forms have been processed, at least 4,000 names will be selected at random. These names selected form the new Section 8 waiting list.

By May 9 everyone who sent in a sign-up form by the deadline will receive a letter telling them whether they secured a position on the list, and, if so, what that position is (1/4,000, 1560/4,000, etc.).

For a household to be entered into the waiting list lottery, its sign-up form must be mailed to the post office box designated on the form and the envelope containing the form must be postmarked no later than Tuesday, April 8.

SHA will not accept faxed or e-mailed sign-up forms, and sign-up forms may not be dropped off at SHA offices; they must be mailed. Photocopies of the sign-up form are acceptable.

For updated information on the lottery, call SHA’s recorded Waiting List Lottery Hot Line, (206) 239-1674.