Down Payment Assistance Options
There are many types of down payment assistance programs available to help qualified homebuyers purchase a home. Let's find the right one for you.
Understanding Your Options
What Is Down Payment Assistance?
These programs may come from state, county, city, lender, wholesaler, or grant sources — and each option may have different income limits, credit requirements, repayment terms, and eligibility guidelines.
Florida Hometown Heroes – Important Program Details
The Florida Hometown Heroes Housing Program helps eligible Florida workers achieve homeownership by providing up to 5% of the first mortgage amount for down payment and closing costs, with a minimum of $10,000 and a maximum of $35,000. The assistance is provided as a 0% interest, deferred second mortgage with no monthly payments, and repayment is required only when the home is sold, refinanced, transferred, no longer occupied as the borrower's primary residence, or the first mortgage is paid in full.
Eligible borrowers must generally be first-time homebuyers (unless an exception applies), work full-time for a Florida-based employer in an eligible occupation, meet county income limits, complete an approved homebuyer education course, and qualify for a Florida Housing first mortgage (Conventional, FHA, VA, or USDA). Funding is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Eligible Occupations
Healthcare Workers
- Registered Nurses (RN)
- Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN)
- Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA)
- Physicians and Physician Assistants
- Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians
- Medical Assistants
- Dental professionals
- Therapists (Physical, Occupational, Respiratory, Speech)
- Mental Health Professionals
- Home Health Aides
- Many other licensed healthcare positions
K–12 School Staff
- Teachers
- Principals and Assistant Principals
- School Counselors
- School Psychologists
- Librarians and Media Specialists
- Teacher Aides
- Cafeteria Staff
- Maintenance and Janitorial Staff
- Social Workers
- Other full-time K–12 school employees
First Responders
- Firefighters
- Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs)
- Paramedics
- Public Safety Personnel
- Law Enforcement Officers
- 911 Dispatchers
- Correctional Officers
- Correctional Probation Officers
- Juvenile Detention Officers
- Juvenile Probation Officers
- Child Protective and Adult Protective Services Enforcement Officers
Court Employees
- Judges
- Court Clerks
- Court Reporters
- Assistant State Attorneys
- Assistant Public Defenders
- Court-employed Attorneys
Child Care Workers
- Full-time employees of licensed child care centers
- Licensed or registered home daycare providers
Military
- Active-duty members of all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces
- Military Reserve members
- U.S. Coast Guard and Coast Guard Reserve
- Florida National Guard members
Veterans
- Veterans employed full-time by a Florida-based employer (eligible under program requirements)
Florida Standard Bond
Florida Housing's Standard Bond program offers up to $10,000 in down payment/closing cost assistance (via FL Assist, a deferred 0% loan, or FL HLP, a 15-year repayable second mortgage), and qualifies clients for FHA, USDA-RD, VA, or conventional (Fannie Mae HFA Preferred) first mortgages — but it counts the income of everyone in the household aged 18 and older, including a non-borrowing spouse, which means lower effective income limits.
Standard TBA
Standard TBA offers the same $10,000 assistance structure and loan options (minus conventional Fannie Mae) but only counts the borrower's own qualifying income, so it typically works better for clients whose household income is inflated by a non-borrowing spouse or adult relative, since limits are higher and split only by county rather than household size.
PLUS TBA
PLUS TBA stands apart by offering a larger, forgivable second mortgage of 3–5% of the total loan amount instead of a flat $10,000 — clients pay nothing monthly and the assistance is forgiven 20% a year with full forgiveness after five years of primary residency, but it's restricted to Freddie Mac HFA Advantage conventional loans only, so clients needing FHA, VA, or USDA-RD financing won't qualify for this version.
Florida's SHIP (State Housing Initiatives Partnership) program is state-funded but locally administered, with dollars distributed to all 67 counties and 55 cities in Florida. County SHIP down payment assistance is commonly administered as a 2nd mortgage attached to a first mortgage the client is approved for at participating lending institutions. Because each county runs its own local housing assistance program, the benefits, funding cycles, and eligibility rules clients encounter can vary significantly depending on where they're buying a home.
SHIP generally offers the highest down payment assistance amounts available in Florida — well above flat state programs — with some counties providing up to $100,000 for eligible first-time buyers, while others cap assistance lower, such as 10 percent of the purchase price up to $15,000 or $20,000. This higher funding ceiling gives clients more flexibility than a standard down payment credit — SHIP funds can be used not just for down payment and closing costs, but also for benefits like a first mortgage rate buydown or covering the PMI/USDA guarantee fee, which can meaningfully lower or eliminate a client's monthly mortgage insurance and reduce their long-term payment.
Terms also differ by county: most SHIP loans are structured as interest-free, deferred loans with no monthly payments, though some are forgivable over an affordability period. Most programs require repayment at sale, refinance, or when the home stops being the primary residence but some will allow a resubordination to a new 1st mortgage if the first mortgage interest rate is lowered. Eligibility commonly requires first-time homebuyer status, income limits based on household size, and completion of a homebuyer education course and some counties may layer on additional requirements, such as 12 consecutive months of local residency before applying.
Florida city down payment assistance programs work much like county SHIP programs, but are typically scoped to a specific municipality or Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) rather than the county at large — meaning a client may need to purchase within defined city limits or a designated redevelopment district to qualify, even if a county-level SHIP program exists nearby. For example, within the city of Tampa, the Dare to Own the Dream Program offers assistance separate from the county program, illustrating how city and county funds can run independently with their own guidelines, income limits, and funding cycles.
Like county SHIP, city DPA funds are almost always structured as a second mortgage layered on top of a separate first mortgage the client has already been approved for by their lender, commonly issued as a 30-year deferred-payment second mortgage at 0% interest with no monthly payments. Sometimes the DPA 2nd mortgage is forgiven if the client stays in the home through the full term. The balance becomes due upon sale, refinance, or move-out.
Proprietary down payment assistance differs from state, county, and city programs in that it's offered directly by mortgage wholesalers to independent loan originators, who package the first mortgage and DPA second mortgage together as a single underwritten transaction rather than layering a government or municipal program onto a separately approved first mortgage.
Because these programs are lender-created rather than government-funded, guidelines are often far more flexible: clients frequently don't need to meet first-time homebuyer status, income limits may not apply at all, and minimum credit score requirements can vary widely by wholesaler and product.
The trade-off is cost — first mortgage interest rates on proprietary DPA products are typically higher than the rates available through state, county, or city DPA programs, since the wholesaler is pricing in the risk and cost of the bundled assistance.
Structure also varies by product: some proprietary programs offer a forgivable second mortgage similar to SHIP or PLUS TBA, while others offer clients a choice — a fully deferred second mortgage with no payments, or a lower first mortgage rate in exchange for making regular payments on the second mortgage rather than deferring it.
In Florida, a number of down payment assistance (DPA) options come structured as true grants rather than second mortgages, meaning they carry no lien and aren't factored into loan-to-value (LTV) or combined LTV calculations — a key distinction from the state's more common deferred or forgivable second-mortgage programs (like FL Assist or Hometown Heroes), which do attach a lien and count toward CLTV.
Grant-based assistance can come from several sources: some Florida-based Indian tribes and tribal housing authorities offer member-focused down payment grants; certain employers, especially hospitals, universities, and municipalities, sponsor employee homeownership grant programs as a retention benefit; many banks and credit unions run their own gift-fund grant programs tied to specific loan products or underserved-market initiatives; and mortgage wholesalers/investors (including programs like Chenoa Fund or Freddie Mac's BorrowSmart) provide grant funds through approved lenders that don't require repayment or a recorded second mortgage.
Why It Matters
Don't Let the Down Payment Hold You Back
More and more prospective homebuyers find themselves short on the funds needed to purchase a home. Down payment assistance programs can help — whether you're a first-time homebuyer or not, for all property types, and often with payments deferred to make affordability possible.
- Programs available for first-time AND repeat buyers
- Options with no income limits or first-time buyer restrictions
- Proprietary DPA programs through select wholesalers
- Payments often deferred — improving monthly affordability
- Grant options that never need to be repaid
A Game-Changing Tool
Find Your Program with Down Payment Connect
Down Payment Connect is a powerful search tool that helps match homebuyers with DPA programs they may qualify for — based on location, income, credit, and loan type.