Homeownership: Empowering New Buyers

Alabama Housing Finance Authority:
Let's Connect: A Public Resource and Partnership Network

Let’s Connect: A Public Resource and Partnership Network. AHFA provides a public resource for Alabamians looking for information and pathways to affordable homeownership. AHFA has developed a partnership network of homeownership professionals that includes Realtors ®, Homebuilders, Housing Counselors, Community Outreach Organizations and Lenders, across the state to help the next generation of homeowners. At AHFA our goal is to provided resources, education, and support to help Alabamians.

California Housing Finance Agency:
Dream For All

CalHFA implemented a never-before-attempted down payment program to help first-time buyers with a very sizeable shared appreciation loan. Lenders, non-profits, community-based organizations and other partners contributed to the design, and demand was so high that the program used $300 million in funding in 11 days, helping more than 2,000 Californians buy their first home.

Colorado Housing and Finance Authority:
CHFA Homebuyer's Roadmap

The Homebuyer’s Roadmap is an educational resource developed in direct response to community feedback and designed to equip homebuyers with the resources they need throughout the homebuying journey. Available in an interactive online format with a print version available upon request, the Roadmap guides buyers along the various “stops” on the homebuying journey, providing essential information with opportunities to dive deeper on specific topics that are most relevant to the customer’s needs.

Delaware State Housing Authority:
Home Sweet Home Loan Program

After receiving a one-time allocation of state funding, the Delaware State Housing Authority created the Home Sweet Home Loan Program to make homeownership more accessible to low-to-moderate-income Delawareans. This program offers a $12,000 second mortgage loan with 0% interest for downpayment and closing cost assistance for new homebuyers purchasing a home under $285,000. The loan is completely forgiven over ten years, provided the property remains the borrower(s) primary residence.

Hawaiʻi Housing Finance and Development Corporation:
Homeowner Equity Lending Program (HELP)

To stem the alarming increase in the outmigration of professionals who’ve made the decision to move abroad, Hawaiʻi’s leaders initiated the Homeowner Equity Lending Program (HELP). The new program is aimed at helping healthcare workers, educators, law enforcement officers, and other homebuyers in high-demand professions purchase their first homes without leaving Hawaiʻi’s shores. HELP achieves this by buying equity in qualifying units, thus significantly reducing their purchase price.

Iowa Finance Authority:
Homeownership Incubator

This initiative sought to increase financial literacy and homeownership, especially for those who have historically faced exclusion. The HFA partnered with the state REALTORS® Association to launch this groundbreaking initiative, rallying the state’s real estate industry to action. This innovative initiative not only sparked imaginative approaches to homeownership education but also drove increased engagement with the HFA’s programs, culminating in a record number of minority homebuyers served.

Kentucky Housing Corporation:
Closing Cost Grant

Kentucky Housing Corporation launched a closing cost grant program in March 2024 using recycled Neighborhood DAP funds from the 2012 federal settlement with the nation's five largest banks. It offered 500 new homebuyers each a $2,000 grant to aid with closing costs, down payment and prepaids. The money could be used alongside KHC's down payment assistance. It increased loan production volume in the state and gave more homebuyers a pathway to affordable homeownership.

MaineHousing:
New Hopes and Homes for New Generations

MaineHousing’s First Generation (“First Gen”) pilot program launched in April 2023. The program provides the opportunity for affordable homeownership and wealth building to those first-time homebuyers whose biological parents or legal guardians never owned a home during the borrower’s lifetime or the borrower was in foster care at some point during their childhood.

Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development:
Maryland Mortgage Program (MMP): HomeStart

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s Community Development Administration (CDA) has significantly diversified products available through the Maryland Mortgage Program (MMP) in the past 7 years. By expanding its array of mortgages and down payment assistance, including regional specials and innovative programs like HomeStart, the program achieved record-breaking performance, reaching $1 billion in reservations in 2019 and almost every year since then.

New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency:
Breaking Barriers: Down-Payment Assistance Paves Path for First-Generation Homebuyers

To enhance the Down-Payment Assistance (DPA) Program which has aided more than 10,000 first-time homebuyers since its creation in 2017, last year NJHMFA launched a new initiative targeted to first-generation buyers. The additional aid will help close racial wealth gaps, stabilize communities, and promote intergenerational wealth.

North Carolina Housing Finance Agency:
Community Partners Loan Pool Adapts to Changing Needs

The Community Partners Loan Pool program (CPLP) provides affordable home ownership opportunities to qualified low-income buyers underserved in the market. In response to declining production caused by the increased cost of housing, CPLP’s down payment assistance maximum was increased from $35,000 to $50,000 to ensure meaningful home ownership opportunities remained for those underserved in the market. By increasing the DPA, CPLP expands options for income-eligible North Carolinians.

Puerto Rico Housing Finance Authority:
Homebuyer Assistance Program: Economic and Social Impact

The Homebuyer Assistance Program, made possible by CDBG-DR funds, aims to boost homeownership rates in Puerto Rico and reduce financial obstacles by cutting financing costs for property acquisition. It prioritizes the Critical Recovery Workforce, including key individuals in public safety, emergency response, education, healthcare, and essential services. Administered by PRHFA, it received $695 million allocation, with $336.8 million awarded as of December 2023, benefiting 9,022 households.

Tennessee Housing Development Agency:
THDA First Time Homebuyers: REO Rehabilitation Program

Rising home prices caused a need for affordable inventory for first time home buyers. Using servicing income, we fully repair foreclosed Real Estate Owned homes and sell with a Realtor exclusively to first time, owner occupant home buyers. Our program removes the auction process and as-is sales that are geared toward cash buyer investors. In addition to providing more affordable housing inventory for first time home buyers, we help stabilize neighborhoods by rehabilitating vacant homes.