Quote Originally Posted by GeminiReed View Post
That sounds like something said prior to the automated lottery to deal with the limitations of said automation. Human involvement should afford them much more flexibility in how the issue that they admitted fault is addressed and they sound very committed to ensuring that FC's that won an FC plot get it. (And individuals that won a personal plot get their plot)

While it's not a guarantee it is also not hopeless.
That was actually part of the Lodestone announcement regarding the housing changes and they put it in bold red font to emphasize it.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...796b3f56abbd28

Please note that all requirements listed above must be fulfilled at the time of both entry and purchase.
Human involvement can only go so far in bypassing how the system is programmed to operate. The GMs have even less ability since they are not programmers.

The entry did not belong to the FC. It belonged to the player - and the player decided they were no longer interested in helping the FC get their house. Are the GMs supposed to disrespect that player's decision? Nothing is owed the FC if a member was treated so badly they choose to leave.

At this point, the best hope for the OP's FC is that one of the other 4 entries they had was the winner.