To qualify for the 2025 Florida Hometown Heroes Program, applicants must meet all of the following:

✅ Eligible Occupation

You must be employed full-time (35+ hours/week) by a Florida-based employer in one of the following roles:

• Healthcare worker
• School staff member
• First responder
• Public safety employee
• Court employee
• Childcare worker
• Active-duty military or military reserves
• U.S. Coast Guard or Coast Guard reserves
• Florida National Guard
• Veteran employed full-time by a Florida-based employer

🛑 If your job does not fall under one of these categories, you will not be eligible, even if you met program criteria in previous years.

💰 County Income Limits

Your total household income must be at or below your county’s income limit, based on household size.This requirement applies to all applicants, including servicemembers and veterans.

✅ Loan Qualification

You must qualify for a first mortgage loan (FHA, VA, or Conventional) and meet minimum standards:

• Minimum 640 credit scoreMaximum
• 50% debt-to-income ratio

📅 Important Timing Note

Funds will not be available on July 1, 2025 as in past years. The program will launch only after:

• The Governor approves the state budget
• Florida Housing finalizes the official list of eligible occupations
• Lenders receive updated program guidelines and training

No, there is no monthly payment for the down payment assistance.  The down payment assistance is a 0% interest, 30 year deferred second mortgage.

It must always be repaid in full when any of the following occur:

• The home is sold
• The home is refinanced
• The borrower moves to another home
• The original first mortgage comes to term

At no time is this loan forgiven.

You may receive down payment assistance equal to 5% of the new mortgage loan amount.  The maximum assistance you can receive ranges from $10,000 - $35,000.

Yes.  A cosigner can be used as long as the combined income between for all applicants does not exceed the total income limits for the program.

To find the income limits in your county, click here to access the Florida Hometown Heroes Income Limit Chart »

No, you may not receive any cash back. If there are unused funds from the down payment assistance, this amount can be applied towards principle reduction of the new loan up to maximum $2,000, or the loan can be reduced prior to closing.

Yes. All applicants must have a 640 middle FICO score to qualify for the program.  

If you are buying a manufactured home, you will need a 660 middle FICO score to qualify.

Yes, the Florida Hometown Heroes Program has restrictions on the total combined income for all applicants, and the amount varies by county.  

• For a listing of income limits by county, click here to access the Florida Hometown Heroes County Income Limits Chart »
• If you are applying for a USDA/ Rural Development Loan, the total income limit is determined by the total income in the household. Click here to access the Florida Hometown Heroes USDA Income Limits Chart »

The maximum debt-vs-income (DTI) ratio for the Florida Hometown Heroes Program is 50% for Conventional, FHA, and VA home loans for Automated Underwriting System (AUS) approved loans.  

For manually-underwritten loans, the maximum debt-vs-income (DTI) ratio is 43%.  

Manufactured homes have a maximum debt-vs-income (DTI) ratio of 43%, regardless of the underwriting type.

No. Under the Florida Hometown Heroes Program, the assistance cannot be used to pay your Realtor's commission. If this is not negotiated in your contract, then the buyer must pay the commission from their own funds.   (This guideline implemented as of 02/16/2024)

Under the Florida Hometown Heroes Program, the assistance can be used to pay a Realtor's with a maximum amount of $500.00. This includes, but is not limited to, transaction fees, processing fees or administrative fees. (This guideline implemented as of 02/16/2024)

To qualify for the 2025 Florida Hometown Heroes Program, applicants must meet all of the following:

✅ Eligible Occupation

You must be employed full-time (35+ hours/week) by a Florida-based employer in one of the following roles:

• Healthcare worker
• School staff member
• First responder
• Public safety employee
• Court employee
• Childcare worker
• Active-duty military or military reserves
• U.S. Coast Guard or Coast Guard reserves
• Florida National Guard
• Veteran employed full-time by a Florida-based employer

🛑 If your job does not fall under one of these categories, you will not be eligible, even if you met program criteria in previous years.

💰 County Income Limits

Your total household income must be at or below your county’s income limit, based on household size.

This requirement applies to all applicants, including servicemembers and veterans.

✅ Loan Qualification

You must qualify for a first mortgage loan (FHA, VA, or Conventional) and meet minimum standards:

• Minimum 640 credit score
• Maximum 50% debt-to-income ratio

📅 Important Timing Note

Funds will not be available on July 1, 2025 as in past years. The program will launch only after:

• The Governor approves the state budget
• Florida Housing finalizes the official list of eligible occupations
• Lenders receive updated program guidelines and training

The Florida.Hometown Heroes program is a comprehensive housing initiative that combines standardized affordable lending programs with down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers who are frontline workers working for a Florida-based employer, Active-Duty military, and Veterans working for a Florida-based employer.  

The program was formed by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation in Tallahassee, FL and the program is available to the public through participating authorized mortgage lenders.

For the Florida Hometown Heroes Housing Program, the income eligibility limit for down payment assistance is 120% of an area's AMI (Average Median Income), which changes each year and varies by county.

To find your county, click here to access the most current limits:  Florida Hometown Heroes Income Limit Chart »

The Florida Hometown Heroes Housing Program allows first-time homebuyers to finance the following property types:

• Single Family Homes
• Townhomes / Villas
• Condominiums
• 2-4 Unit Multi-Family Homes
• Manufactured Homes

If you are qualifying for a Conventional mortgage, and the total income on the application is 80% or less than the Average Median Income (AMI) for the county, you may be eligible for a discounted Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) premium, which may lower your overall monthly payment.

If your income is above this limit, (but still within program income limit of 120% of the county AMI), you may still qualify for the Florida Hometown Heroes program with a standard PMI policy.  

Click here to access the Florida Hometown Heroes income Income Limit Chart »

No, the Florida Hometown Heroes Down Payment Assistance funds do not require the homeowner to live in the home for a specific amount of time; however the down payment assistance funds itself must always be repaid in full when any of the following occur:

• The home is sold
• The home is refinanced
• The borrower moves to another home
• When the original mortgage loan comes to term.  

At no time is this loan forgiven.

The down payment assistance funds are provided through the Florida Housing Finance Corporation in Tallahassee, FL.

To access the funds, applicants must apply with an authorized participating mortgage lender.

For more information about the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, visit floridahousing.org.