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Weighted Lotteries

Weighted Lotteries

  • Households receive additional entries based on preference criteria (e.g., local residency, program tenure, household size).
  • Each entry is assigned a separate random rank.
  • The household’s best-ranked entry determines their lottery position.
  • If a preference is later found invalid during application review, the corresponding entry is removed and the next-best entry is used—a soft no approach that avoids disqualification.

🧷 How Verification Affects Ranking

During application review, staff will verify whether the household actually qualifies for each claimed preference:

  • If the household does not meet a weighted criterion, the entries linked to that response are removed.
  • The participant keeps the next-best valid rank based on verified criteria.
  • This avoids disqualification and supports a soft-no model.