Hometown Heroes: the Florida program for healthcare, school and emergency workers
Nelson Paredes · REALTOR® · One Stop Realty Center Inc
Updated October 20, 2026
Up to $35,000
No pause notice — checked October 20, 2026. The rates to reserve this assistance, on Florida Housing’s page for lenders, carry the date of each business day. Having no pause notice does not mean there is money for your case: the lender handling your purchase confirms it. More at the official source.
It is the program’s maximum, not a fixed figure: what you get is a percentage of the loan your lender gives you, with a minimum and this maximum.
The figures and requirements come from the program’s official page at Florida Housing. The status above comes from the last time we read that page, with its date.
Checked October 19, 2026.
- How much: up to 5% of your bank loan, between $10,000 and $35,000, for the down payment and the costs of the day you sign for the home. What you get depends on the loan your lender gives you.
- What it is: a loan from the state, not a gift: it is not forgiven and it is repaid in full. When you repay it is in the first section.
- Who: people buying their first home who come in through one of the program’s three doors: a job on the list, active-duty military, or a veteran or reservist. There is a maximum income for your household.
- How to apply: a lender that works with Florida Housing handles it, inside your purchase. You do not apply at a state office.
Florida Housing Finance Corporation, the state housing agency, gives up to 5% of your bank loan, between $10,000 and $35,000, for the down payment and the costs of the day you sign for the home. Because it is a percentage, what you get depends on the main loan your lender gives you, that is, on the price of the home.
It is for people who work full time in Florida in health care, schools, police, fire departments, courts or child care, and for military members and veterans. It is a loan with no interest and you pay nothing each month, but it is not forgiven: you pay it all back when you sell the home, put it in someone else’s name, replace your loan with a new one or stop living in it. The term is 30 years.
What changes the math the most, and what is least understood: because there is no monthly payment, it does not raise the share of your monthly income that goes to paying debts (DTI). Meaning it does not reduce the price of the home the lender approves you for. A regular loan for the same amount would.
With your numbers, not the example. With five questions and no credit check: how many properties for sale are within your reach and what you'd pay a month.
See what I can buyThere is not one door, there are three: work full time in one of the listed occupations for an employer with a physical location in Florida; be active-duty military, which needs no Florida employer; or be a veteran or reservist working full time in Florida, in any occupation.
- Health care workers
- School staff from kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12): public, private, charter or magnet
- First responders (the people who arrive first at an emergency)
- Public safety and court employees
- Child care workers
- Active military, reservists and veterans, who come in through their own route
You do not have to be a public employee. A nurse at a private hospital gets in the same as one at a county hospital. What is looked at is the occupation and that the employer is Florida-based, not whether the government pays the salary. That said, Florida-based means a physical location you report to: full-time remote employees do not get in.
Florida Housing publishes the full list of eligible occupations on its official page, and it is worth reading: it is broader than people assume and it can change.
Besides your job, three things count. One, that you are buying your first home; if you are military or a veteran, your lender tells you how that condition applies in your case. Another, what the lender confirms with you, which is in the list below. And another, the most your household can earn per year, based on how many people live in it:
People in your household Miami-Dade Broward 1 $136,200 $126,800 2 $136,200 $126,800 3 $156,630 $145,820 4 $156,630 $145,820 5 $156,630 $145,820 6 or more $156,630 $145,820 The table shows the lowest limit. Florida Housing has two kinds of loan for this assistance and, with the other one, the income limit is higher: your lender tells you which one applies to you. The home does not have one maximum price for everyone either, because that also depends on the kind of loan.
This is what the program asks for and we do not ask you yet. Your lender confirms it with you:
- That you or your co-buyer work full time in Florida in health care, schools, law enforcement, fire, courts or child care, or are military or a veteran with a full-time job.
- Your credit score has to be 640 or higher.
- You have to take a homebuyer course approved by the federal government before you sign for the home.
- If your loan is a government-backed one (the 3.5%-down loan, the veterans loan or the rural loan), you have to be a permanent resident. With a regular bank loan, living here legally is enough.
- You can only use one Florida Housing purchase assistance in your whole life, so you must not have used one before.
- Miami-Dade: Florida Housing has two kinds of loan for this assistance. With one, a household of 1 or 2 people can earn up to $136,200 and one of 3 or more, up to $156,630, and the home cannot cost more than $697,889. With the other, the income limit goes up to $204,300. Your lender tells you which one applies to you.
- Broward: Florida Housing has two kinds of loan for this assistance. With one, a household of 1 or 2 people can earn up to $126,800 and one of 3 or more, up to $145,820, and the home cannot cost more than $697,889. With the other, the income limit goes up to $190,200. Your lender tells you which one applies to you.
- If you buy in an area the federal government marks as a priority, the income and price limits are higher.
- The bank loan cannot exceed $667,000 if it is the 3.5%-down loan (FHA), or $832,750 if it is a regular bank loan.
- 1Check that your job countsBefore you spend time on it, see which of the three doors you come through (above, in “Who can ask for it”) and that your occupation is on Florida Housing’s list.
- 2See whether this assistance is the right one for youHometown Heroes may not be the only assistance you can get, or the best one for your case. Compare it with the others before you decide.See which programs could fit
- 3Find a lender that works with the programYou do not apply on your own or directly with the state: a participating lender (or loan company) handles it. There is an official lender locator on the Florida Housing site.
- 4Take the homebuyer courseIt is a course approved by the federal government, and it has to be done before you sign for the home.
- 5The lender reviews your case and reserves the assistanceIt looks at your credit, your income, the home and the kind of loan that applies to you, which decides your income limit. If everything fits, it reserves the assistance inside your purchase.
Applying to Hometown Heroes costs nothing. Florida Housing says so explicitly on its own site because there are people who charge to process it. If someone asks you for money to handle it, that is not the program.
It does not stack with another state assistance. It can be added to a county or city one, if that one allows it.
In the assistance finder you compare this assistance with the others in Miami-Dade and Broward based on your household’s details. The Down Payment Assistance Tracker shows the status of each program with the date we checked it. This guide explains the program, but it does not replace the lender’s review of your case.
How much does Hometown Heroes give? It gives up to 5% of your bank loan, between $10,000 and $35,000, for the down payment and the costs of the day you sign for the home. With a large loan you get closer to the maximum and with a small one, to the minimum: it is not one figure for everyone.
Does the assistance get erased over the years, like others? No. It is a loan from the state and it is repaid in full. When is in “How much it gives and how it is repaid”.
Is there an income limit and a maximum price for the home? There is an income limit, based on the people in your household: the table in “Who can ask for it” shows the lowest one. The maximum price of the home is not the same for everyone. Both depend on the kind of loan that applies to you, and your lender tells you which one it is.
Is it open today? Is there money left? Look at the card above: it says whether Florida Housing posts a pause notice, with the day we checked. Having no pause notice does not mean there is money for your case: the lender handling your purchase confirms that.
We tell you whether your job counts.
Finding your job title in the document is not the end of it: where your employer is based matters, and so does which of the three doors you come through. Leave us your number and we go through it with you.
Figures and requirements checked on October 14, 2026 against Florida Housing’s official program page. Public program terms can change without notice: always confirm with Florida Housing Finance Corporation before applying. This guide orients you, it does not advise you.
