The Chicago Housing Authority on Monday opened a wait list in which thousands of people are competing for a handful of public housing apartments.

Applications for CHA’s public housing community area wait list is not first come, first serve. But that didn’t stop a number of people from flooding the agency with applications.

Only 25 units are available. But in a tight market for affordable housing, 400 people had already applied by noon on Monday. The list is open through June 29.

Loretta Davis said she needs subsidized housing.

“Because I’m not working. I’ve been off for like two years and a half and I need something that I can afford to pay,” Davis said.

The units Davis and others are applying for are not traditional public housing developments. Instead, these units are dispersed in small numbers in a neighborhood. This method was developed to deconcentrate poverty.

The catch is that residents applying must currently live in the neighborhoods where units are becoming available. This time those communities are Douglas, Oakland, Kenwood, New City and Fuller Park.

CHA will conduct an electronic lottery to determine each applicant’s place on the wait list.