To qualify, a family had to meet income requirements and provide good credit references to qualify for a loan to repair the house. There were 59 low-income applicants for the lottery, which is part of the federal Urban Homesteading Program.
Tension rose as the 7 p.m. drawing time neared. The families, in various states of anxiety, waited in different parts of the hall.
In the front row were Bruce and Regina Rogers, who have lived with their four children in a cramped one-bedroom Yeadon apartment for 10 years. Now, the deeply religious couple said, the Lord was about to "open a new door" for them.
Behind the Rogerses in the second row sat Charles E. Dawson, his fiancee, Roslind Savage, and their 3-year-old daughter, Ashley.
Tired of dishing out cash for a small Yeadon apartment they will never own, they were hoping for something to call theirs, ideally a house with a back yard and room for Ashley to play.
Two rows back were Darryl and Maxine Guy, who are raising two daughters in a rental dwelling in Darby Borough. Darryl Guy is a Darby Borough police officer. "We'll see" is all the Guys said.
Far from the others, in the last row, was Sheila Shabazz, a Philadelphia computer operator and mother of three. The condition of one of her children, who has a liver ailment, had deteriorated to the point that Shabazz was concerned that all her money would go to the child's medical bills, forcing her withdrawal from the lottery.
However, the Darby Borough resident had longed for a house for years for her family and thus decided to go through with the lottery. Her fiance, Gregory Williams, held her hand to ease her nerves.
Four families, three abandoned houses; four wishes, only three of which could be granted.
Within the space of 10 minutes, lives would change as the luck of the draw turned a once-distant hope into instant reality for a dollar and repairs.
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