Welcome H.O.M.E.: three new homes in Miami-Dade and up to $150,000 in assistance
It is still open, and there are two ways it can close: September 30 arrives, or the cap fills. The second one can happen much sooner.
200 applications
That is the cap of qualified applications the county accepts. Reach it and applications close, even if September 30 has not arrived. The count has been running since September 1.
The cap and the assistance come from the same MDEAT page, linked further down in the assistance card, with the day a person read it.
It is a public lottery: every application that qualifies goes in, and the order is drawn at random. Applying costs nothing, and the homebuyer course they require is given free by several agencies in Miami-Dade.
What is on the table
Welcome H.O.M.E. is an initiative from the Miami-Dade Economic Advocacy Trust (MDEAT) with JL Brown Development. It is not a standard assistance program: it is a lottery for specific homes that are already built, which is why it has an opening and a closing date.
On that $150,000, precision matters: the county says "up to" and adds that it depends on available funding. It is not a figure every selected applicant automatically receives, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling you something.
The dates, and why the closing one is misleading
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Tuesday, September 1, 2026 | Applications opened. It is open now. Online only. |
| Wednesday, September 30, 2026 | Official closing date. |
| Earlier, if 200 come in | It closes as soon as 200 qualified applications are received. |
The deadline that matters is not the 30th: it is application number 200. Three homes and a two-hundred cap in a county of nearly three million people means the real window may last days, not a month. The count has been running since September 1. Apply this week and you are in the game; leave it for the end and you probably will not make it.
Who can apply
- Household income below 140% of Area Median Income (AMI). The exact limit changes with how many people live in your home.
- The home must be your primary residence. Not an investment, not a rental.
- One application per household. Filing twice does not double your odds.
- Online only. You apply through the county page.
How the lottery works, step by step
This is the part almost nobody explains properly, and it decides whether you really have a shot:
- Prescreening application and documentsYou complete a brief prescreening application and submit the documents confirming you meet the requirements.
- You enter the public lotteryEvery qualifying application goes into a public lottery. The order is randomized.
- Ten households are rankedThe drawing produces positions one through ten. Landing in the top ten is what keeps you in play.
- The top six get 60 daysThe six highest-ranked applicants have 60 days to qualify to purchase the home.
- The homes go to the first three who qualifyIf any of the top three cannot qualify within that period, the next applicant on the list is contacted.
Two things worth knowing before you get your hopes up
The homes are not free
The county says it plainly: the homes are not free. Selected applicants must qualify for financing through a lender or banking institution, just like any other purchase.
The assistance lowers what you need; it does not replace the mortgage. That is why showing up pre-approved is not a detail: it is what separates the person who keeps the home from the one who loses their turn.
Applying is free, and the county itself warns you not to pay anyone to help with the application. If someone charges you to enter this lottery, they are scamming you. Hold on to that sentence.
How to show up prepared
MDEAT recommends two things before applying, and both can be ready in days:
- The HUD homebuyer courseEight hours with a certified agency. Several offer it free in Miami-Dade, and in Spanish. It is the same certificate nearly every county assistance program asks for, so none of it is wasted.
- A pre-approval letterFrom an accredited lender or banking institution. It proves you can qualify — exactly what you have to demonstrate within those 60 days.
- Knowing your own numbersWhat you actually need between down payment and closing costs, and what you have. Without that figure you cannot tell whether the assistance covers you or what home you can carry.
We help you get the letter.
It is the one thing on the list that does not depend on you: an accredited lender signs it, not the county. Leave your number and we take it from there with you.
For questions about the program, the county responds at Welcomehome@miamidade.gov, and notes that response times vary with the volume of inquiries.
Figures verified August 30, 2026 against the official Miami-Dade Economic Advocacy Trust page. Public program terms can change without notice: always confirm with the county source before applying. This guide orients you, it does not advise you.
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