Homeownership: Empowering New Buyers

Connecticut Housing Finance Authority:
From Margin to Mainstream: Modernizing Manufactured Home Financing in Connecticut

Mobile and manufactured homes are among the most affordable housing options available, yet they’re among the hardest to finance. Outdated federal standards, restrictive down payment requirements, and thin lender participation had reduced a viable homeownership pathway to one that almost no one could access. CHFA rebuilt it.​​​​​​​​​​​​

Florida Housing Finance Corporation:
Florida's Hometown Heroes Housing Program

Florida Housing's Hometown Heroes Housing Program (HTH) represents a bold, innovation solution to one of the state's most urgent challenges: enabling our hardworking families to achieve homeownership in an increasingly unaffordable housing market. By addressing a critical gap in housing financing, directing resources based on targeted eligibility, and collaborating with both public and private sector partners, Hometown Heroes delivers measurable results to meet Florida's workforce housing needs.

Illinois Housing Development Authority:
Housing Counseling Resource Program

The Illinois Housing Development Authority and Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority jointly administer the Housing Counseling Resource Program that empowers homebuyers by helping them navigate financial challenges and homeownership barriers. By funding local counseling agencies, HCRP expands access to resources, supports underserved communities, and fosters partnerships for broader outreach that have created thousands of new homebuyers in both Illinois and Wisconsin.

Michigan State Housing Development Authority:
Tobias Harris Homeownership Initiative: A Public-Private Model for Expanding Access for First-Time Buyers

Michigan’s Tobias Harris Homeownership Initiative (THHI) is a first-of-its-kind public-private model expanding access for Detroit-area first-time buyers. In partnership with NBA star Tobias Harris and Homium, this shared-appreciation pilot leverages a $3M public investment to unlock a $10M down payment assistance pool and $37M in first mortgages—helping more families achieve sustainable homeownership.

Minnesota Housing:
Tribal Housing Investments 50 Years in the Making

Over the past 50 years, Minnesota Housing has partnered with Tribal Nations to fund housing activities across Minnesota through the Tribal Indian Housing Program. Funded with Legislative appropriations, the program addresses the difficulty of securing loans on Tribal trust lands. Since the program’s inception, we’ve invested $70 million to support nearly 3,300 mortgages and rehabilitation loans on Tribal lands.

New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority:
NH Housing Build Your Own Team Website

Build Your Team is New Hampshire Housing's digital platform that guides homebuyers through the purchase process by connecting them to trusted, vetted professionals. Integrated with HubSpot's Customer Relationship Manager, it simplifies next steps, embeds education and counseling, and expands access to more NH residents, helping them achieve homeownership. Available in multiple languages, this platform makes homeownership possible throughout our communities.

New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency:
Revamping NJHMFA’s Down Payment Assistance for a New Generation of Buyers

NJHMFA relaunched its homeownership assistance program with two primary goals in mind. Specifically, to expand program reach to make homeownership attainable and to ensure continuity. This goal was met through policy innovations that created award amount flexibility based on geography and family homeownership status, while using interest rate buydowns to provide all eligible borrowers with below market rates and ensuring legislative appropriations meet demand.

Oregon Housing and Community Services:
Oregon Flex Lending Program

Consistently high mortgage rates and down payment assistance continue to create barriers for Oregonians with lower incomes to buy homes. Oregon Housing and Community Services created the Flex Lending program to provide an additional pathway to homeownership by offering two loan products with favorable terms and down payment assistance. In 2025, the program helped almost 1,000 households, especially those who are historically underserved, to buy a home.

South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority:
The Made It Home! Program

The Made It Home! Program is a workforce housing initiative addressing South Carolina’s shortage of entry-level single-family homes for middle-income families. Launched with $5 million from the General Assembly, it funded 130 homes statewide, all fully subscribed. The program pairs a $12,500 builder subsidy with $25,000 in down payment assistance, expanding both housing supply and access through a market-driven model.

Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority:
Showing Wisconsinites the WHEDA Way Home

WHEDA Way Home is an innovative mortgage loan program created for potential first-time, low-income homeowners who can demonstrate a strong payment history but don’t meet the credit requirements of a traditional mortgage. Instead of evaluating potential homebuyers solely by numbers, the program uses a human-based risk evaluation, reviewing a borrower’s complete story and financial history, with flexible criteria, to provide homebuying counseling and down payment assistance as a part of the loan.