2025 BHC WAITING LIST LOTTERY

Learn more about our lottery process by reading the section below.

About Us

Burbank Housing Corporation (BHC) is a 501(c)(3) Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) that operates an Affordable Housing Program in its 300+ affordable rental units. All of our vacancies are filled through a waiting list.

Our Affordable Housing Program has four waiting lists that are categorized by income level. The income and rent requirements are established by the State of California for Los Angeles County.

The opportunity to apply for the Burbank Housing Corporation’s Affordable Housing Program is offered without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion, ancestry, genetic information, source of income, age, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation or preference, gender identity, or disability, or any other basis prohibited by law.

Next Section - Program Guidelines

Waiting List & Program Guidelines

Before applying, interested applicants should read the following guidelines. Click on the tabs to read each section.

Waiting List

The BHC Waiting List applies to ALL units in our properties. NO specific unit/building requests will be granted. A household is only given two opportunities to accept or qualify for an available BHC unit.

Our waiting list only has one preference for households that live or work in the city of Burbank, CA.

Households on our waiting list are notified via telephone and mailed postcard when an apartment suitable for the household's income and size becomes available. This could take anywhere from a few months to a few years.

It is the applicant's responsibility to notify the BHC office if their income, address, phone number, or household composition changes while on the BHC Waiting List. Failure to update an application could result in removal from the waiting list. Proof of income, Burbank residency, or Burbank employment may be required.

Every October, BHC conducts a waiting list audit by mailing confirmation letters to all applicants. You must submit the bottom slip of the letter to our office by the given deadline. Failure to respond by the deadline indicates a disinterest in our Affordable Housing Program & will result in removal from the waiting list.

A copy of the official Waiting List Policy is available by written request.

Rental Screening

If you are offered and choose to apply for an apartment with BHC, you will need to provide verification and documentation of your household’s income and eligibility during the rental application process. Household income must be verified at the time of the initial rental application AND EVERY YEAR THEREAFTER.

A credit and criminal background check will also be performed during the time of the rental application. For this reason, every adult household member must either have a social security number or an individual tax identification number.

The household must complete the rental screening process before they are able to view the available unit.

Income Verification

Household income must be verified at the time of the initial rental application AND EVERY YEAR THEREAFTER. Adult household members must submit their income documents (bank statements, tax returns, etc.) to our property management office in order to move into any BHC-managed unit.

If the household is ineligible based on an incorrect application or lack of income documentation, the household may be moved to the bottom or completely removed from the waiting list.

Your minimum income requirement will be approximately 2.5 times the monthly rent.

Rent & Security Deposit

The BHC Affordable Housing Program is not a rent subsidy or rental assistance program. All of BHC's rental units operate under State and Federal rent limits. Tenants are responsible for paying their rent & utility payments in full. We require a security deposit (up to 2 months’ rent).

Each BHC unit has a designated income level and only a household that qualifies for that unit may move in. The rent amount is based on the unit's designated income level.

If a resident's income changes during the year, the rent amount may be modified after the annual income recertification process. This is contingent on the availability to redesignate units' income levels, which are established by Affordable Housing Agreements with the City of Burbank.

Occupancy Standards

By default, Burbank Housing Corporation will place households in unit sizes that maximize the unit's occupancy. While on our waiting list, households may contact our office & make an elective request for a larger unit size; however, their wait time will increase as their application will have a low priority level.

Occupancy Standards
1 Bedroom: 1 person min. - 3 people max.

2 Bedroom: 4 people min. - 5 people max.

3 Bedroom: 6 people min. - 7 people max.

4 Bedroom: 8 people max.

Next Section - Eligibility

Am I Eligible?

The 2025 BHC Waiting List Lottery is specifically for households that fall within 81-120% of the area median income, as established by the State of California for Los Angeles County. Eligibility is based on the household's size and combined gross annual income.

View Income Requirements

Your household's gross annual income is the total amount of money that all adult (18+) household members earn or receive in a year before taxes or other deductions. Financial aid, SNAP/EBT/CalFresh, or other food assistance programs are NOT considered a source of income for the BHC Affordable Housing Program.

Eligible sources of income may Include but are not limited to:

Salary, job wages, overtime pay, bonuses, comission payments
Self-employment/net profit of a business
Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Disability benefits, or income from In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)
CalWORKs, General Assistance/General Relief (GA/GR), or other cash aid programs
Child support, alimony, or regular monetary gifts

Next Section - How to Apply

How to Apply

Lottery Application Process: July 7, 2025 at 9:00 am PST - July 25, 2025 at 4:00 pm PST

Starting Monday, July 7, 2025 at 9:00 am PST, eligible households may submit an online application for the BHC Waiting List Lottery, which will randomly select and place a limited number of applications on the BHC Waiting List. Please be advised that eligibility does not guarantee placement on the waiting list or immediate housing.

A complete and accurate application must be submitted by the deadline, July 25, 2025 no later than 4:00 pm PST, to be entered into the waiting list lottery. Income documentation is not required for the lottery; however, if your household is added to the waiting list, you must be able to prove the income stated on your application during the rental screening process.

Early submission does not provide any advantage in the lottery process. Applicants are encouraged to carefully complete their application, as corrections cannot be made after the deadline.

BHC is not responsible for any technical issues. If you are a person with a disability and require assistance completing the online application, please contact our office at (818) 559-2336 or info@burbankhousingcorp.org before the deadline.

Important Information for Applicants:

Your application must be randomly selected during the lottery to be added to the BHC Waiting List.
Households that do not meet the income criteria will be unable to submit a lottery application.
Late applications will not be accepted under any circumstance.
Households must submit an online application. Paper or in-person applications are not available. If you have questions about the online application, please contact our office.
There are no available units at this time. The BHC Affordable Housing Program is not immediate or emergency housing. The average wait time is 2 - 5 years.
One application per household. An adult may only appear on one application. Duplicate applications will be automatically disqualified from the lottery.

BEFORE APPLYING

Collect the following information:

An adult household member (18+) that can be designated as the head of household (HOH)
Full names of all household members including children and unborn infants (if someone is pregnant)
An accurate calculation of the gross monthly income (before taxes or deductions) of every adult household member
The date of birth of every household member
A current home or mailing address
An email address and phone number
Sources of income from all household members (job earnings, social security, child support, etc.).

AFTER APPLYING

Applicants should receive an automatic confirmation email with the subject line, "2025 BHC Waiting List Lottery: Application Received" after submitting. Please check your spam/junk folders.

If you never received a confirmation email, there may be a technical issue with your submission. Please contact the BHC office at (818) 559-2336 or info@burbankhousingcorp.org for further assistance.

Unless there is an issue with your application, you will not receive any further correspondance until the waiting list lottery has been conducted in August 2025.

LOTTERY SELECTION

What Happens After the Deadline:

In August, all eligible applicants will be entered into a computer-generated lottery drawing. A limited number of applications will be selected and placed on the BHC Waiting List. Households will be notifed of the lottery results via email and/or mailed postcard.

If Not Selected During Lottery:

Your household will not be placed on the waiting list. However, you may reapply for a future lottery when applications reopen. You will receive an email notification from our office confirming that your application was rejected.

If Selected During Lottery:

Your application will be placed on the waiting list in the order drawn. BHC will contact you with via mailed postcard and email with your waiting list status. There are no affordable rentals at this time. Our property management office will contact you when a unit appropriate for your household becomes available. The wait time may vary from a few months to several years.

Apply Now

Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions? Read our FAQ section to learn more!

How does the Affordable Housing Program work?

Burbank Housing Corporation (BHC) operates our Affordable Housing Program in the organization’s 300+ rental units. BHC is a HUD-recognized Community-Based Housing Development Organization (CHDO). Our Affordable Housing Program has fixed rent rates based on income level and tenants are responsible for paying their monthly rent in its entirety. BHC owns over 300 affordable apartment units in five focus neighborhoods and operates a waiting list system to fill all of its vacancies. Interested applicants must first apply for the BHC Waiting List to enter our Affordable Housing Program. There are four waiting lists that are categorized by income level. The income and rent requirements for each income category are established by the State of California for Los Angeles County. All of BHC properties are mixed-income to accurately reflect the reality of our communities. Please keep in mind that our Affordable Housing Program is NOT a form of immediate or emergency housing.
Is this Section 8?

No. Section 8 is a rent subsidy program that is operated by city governments. If you are interested in Section 8, you may call the City of Burbank’s Housing Authority at (818) 238-5160.
Is this public housing?

No. Burbank Housing Corporation (BHC) is a private nonprofit organization. Our affordable housing is not a part of the government.
How do I apply for the Affordable Housing Program?

First, determine the number of persons that will live in the household, including you, all children & any unborn children, if someone in your household is pregnant. Second, calculate your total gross monthly income from every household member that have income and who are over 18 years of age. Income from financial aid & SNAP (or other food stamp programs) are NOT considered for our affordable housing program (Gross income means income before taxes or other deductions are made). You may include: Salary, wages, average overtime pay, SSI, Social Security, or disability benefits, pensions or annuities, and money provided on a regular basis by family members that are not included on the application. Third, please visit our Waiting List Page to find out if the waiting list your household qualifies for is open at this time: Click Here Lastly, please contact our office and provide BHC with your household size & gross annual income. No additional documents are required when you apply for the waiting list; however, you may want to review your recent paychecks and tax documents before you fill out the application. Having the most exact and correct income information is very important. Our office will send you a waiting list application via email, mail, or fax if your household qualifies for an open waiting list. If you qualify for a closed waiting list, you must wait until the waiting list reopens to request an application. To hear about upcoming waiting list openings, please contact our office or visit our website in January 2018.
Does every BHC Property have its own waiting list?

No. BHC has one joint waiting list for all of its properties. Your household will only have to apply once to be offered any available unit in our portfolio. The next eligible applicant on our waiting list will be offered the first available apartment that fits their household’s size and income level. No specific unit or building requests will be granted.
My household qualifies for a closed waiting list. What do I do now?

You may contact our office or check our website in January 2022 to find out if a closed waiting list will reopen later in the year. BHC conducts an annual waiting list audit near the end of the calendar year to determine if a closed waiting list will reopen in the following year. Our office announces our waiting list update in January 2022 to inform interested applicants about upcoming waiting list openings. Our waiting lists may remain closed until further notice.
How long will I be on the waiting list?

BHC’s program is permanent affordable housing. Because there is no time limit on how long a tenant can stay in our program, it is hard to estimate how long your household may wait. The average household waits 2-5 years to be placed in a unit. BHC’s affordable housing program is NOT a form of immediate or emergency housing. BHC has just over 300 units in our program. We can only move new tenants off the waiting list & into our program when our current tenants vacate one of our units. Many of our tenants are on fixed incomes and stay in our apartments, which makes the wait times long for new applicants.
Who comes up with the income levels & rents?

The income & rent requirements are established by the State Legislature. If you have questions on how they determine the rates, BHC recommends you contact your local state representative.
Where are your rental units located?

BHC owns & manages 300+ rental units in 5 focus neighborhoods in Burbank, CA. Our affordable housing program only operates in BHC managed properties. For tenant privacy, we do not disclose our addresses until the rental screening process with potential residents.