Major problem in CB housing lottery results in redraw

Emotional whiplash

By Mark Reaman 

A major glitch in the January 22 housing lottery put on by the town of Crested Butte has left some people upset with the outcome and everyone involved confused at what happened. Ultimately a redraw was held for some newly built rental units and an original winner did not make the second cut, putting extreme stress on the local household who described the situation as “devastating.” The Crested Butte town council will discuss the situation at its next meeting on February 3.

Lotteries are how households are selected to either rent or purchase new affordable housing units. In this case, 28 households were qualified for nine rentals (one one-bedroom, three three-bedrooms, and five two-bedroom units) built in Paradise Park on the east end of town by the Slate River bridge. Three lottery drawings were held Wednesday at the town hall. The first was one drawing for the one-bedroom unit, the second had three drawings for the three-bedrooms units, and the third lottery was for the two-bedroom units.

Qualified applicants check in with town staff in the council chambers before the drawings and make sure the appropriate tickets for the household are allocated. The number of tickets allocated is based on cumulative years in the local workforce. As each ticket is drawn at this event by a town council member, winners are announced and that household chooses which unit they want.

After each lottery, an “audit” of the tickets is conducted to make sure the correct number of tickets were in the drawing bin, no more and no less. After the third lottery drawing was over Wednesday evening, the audit count was conducted and only 91 of the expected 92 tickets were counted. A search of the area turned up a rogue ticket that was supposed to be in the drawing bin at the end of a table near another bin.

“It was a brutal situation. Just awful,” said Crested Butte housing director Erin Ganser the day after the incident. “We’re not sure how it happened but I take full ownership for the error. It’s my process to run.”

Given the fact that someone’s ticket was not included in the original drawing for the two-bedroom units, the decision was made to redo the drawing. In the redraw, surprisingly, four of the original five winners were drawn again. But one of the winners from the first drawing was not, and they had left the lottery room with their small child after choosing their unit. Ganser had to call them immediately with the bad news that while they thought they had been chosen for an affordable unit, that was not in fact the case.

Emotional outcomes all around

Scotia Cox and her two-year-old daughter were at the lottery and theirs was the final name drawn for the two-bedroom units during the original drawing. “I was sitting next to someone whose name was picked right before ours and we were celebrating about being future neighbors. We didn’t even know each other but we were so excited. There was that community love.”

As her daughter got antsy, Cox was told the lottery was about over and she could leave after putting her name by her preferred unit. She went to Tully’s in Crested Butte South to celebrate the news with her fiancé who was working there. 

“It was an intense emotional release for us to realize that finally, we had a chance at stable housing.” And then they received the crushing phone call from town.

“We weren’t there long when he got a call from Erin saying there had been a mistake and they redid the lottery and we weren’t selected in the second drawing,” she said. “That was devasting. We obviously were shocked and thought it was BS. We were really mad, and we were thinking what’s the point of even being here anymore. The whole thing is stressful to begin with and to get to the point where you are told you get something and have that ripped away — that’s painful.”

Cox said the whole process is extremely stressful for everyone involved “but it’s something we all sign up for because housing is so scarce. Honestly, from the minute you walk in, and the town is using an office trashcan to draw tickets from, it just feels like it’s not serious. And it’s very serious for everyone involved.”

Cox said her household has lived in several places up and down the valley, from CB South to Harmel’s to their current rental unit in Gunnison. She said reflecting on the big picture with others in her similar housing situation, they all agree the housing instability in the valley contributes to the local mental health crisis. “It’s very real,” she said. “A lot of people see the housing crisis tied to mental health issues.”

Days after the lottery took place, Cox said she is not in favor of redoing the lottery again. She doesn’t want anyone else to have to deal with that type of disappointment. She does think there is so much available technology that could be used to hold the lottery and take the human error element out of the process.

Housing insecurity is stressful

Ganser said she has overseen two similar housing lotteries in Crested Butte and while there can be some small issues, nothing like this situation had ever happened.

“These lotteries are probably the hardest part of the job. They are extremely intense and emotional,” she said. “This is the only way most people have a chance to get a place to live in Crested Butte. The wages here and high housing prices no longer allow local workers to afford the prices to buy or build a home, or even afford a market rate rental. Tears are shed and frustration is high even when the process is smooth. That happens when three-quarters or more of the participants walk out without secure housing. The tension is thick. Housing insecurity weighs heavily on our community’s wellbeing.”

Ganser said every lottery is a learning experience “and we seek to improve the process every time. I don’t know the right answer in this situation. To ensure that all eligible participants had a chance to win, the lottery had to be re-run. The audit did what it is supposed to, but it doesn’t negate the fact that an error in our process resulted in trauma for a family. That trauma ripples into the community and decreases confidence in the town’s housing programs. There is no way to correct this, and it is a horrible outcome. In this human process there is always opportunity for error, unfortunately.”

Ganser said some ski towns conduct digital lotteries and don’t allow participants in the room. She said some initial feedback from those in the CB lottery was negative on that possible change for future lotteries. Five more Paradise Park units will be completed in the next year or so and will be allocated by lottery. Staff has identified changes to the process to better control the pre-drawing confirmation count.

Mayor apologizes

Crested Butte mayor Ian Billick met with Cox the weekend after the lottery and said the town is having the town attorney review the process and the council will discuss the situation at its next meeting. “It is important that the town have a lottery process that is capable of identifying and correcting mistakes, as well as provide certainty for participants. That could mean that no allocations are final until a five-day objection period is finished and if the period successfully passes, allocations are then final,” Billick said. “However, I personally apologize for the emotional duress and confusion that we created last week. The council has made this a priority to discuss at the next meeting and I anticipate those discussions will continue to our first meeting in March. We will be talking about how we can improve the process going forward, and looking ahead, what options we might have to mitigate how painful last week was for some of our community members.”

Cox was appreciative of Billick’s actions. “This community continuously comes together for each other,” Cox said. “We all keep moving forward and I know we are all trying to address the lack of housing for workers. But do it with respect. Do it so that mistakes like this one don’t occur. Stop just putting bureaucratic band-aids on the issues. No one should experience the emotional whiplash we went through.”