Hometown Heroes Program — Up to $35,000 in DPA

Eligibility is based on your employer and work location, not your job title. Qualifying employer categories include Florida-based healthcare facilities, K-12 schools, fire departments and ambulance services, law enforcement and correctional agencies, courts, licensed childcare facilities, and the military. Any full-time employee of an eligible facility can qualify — a cafeteria worker at a hospital or school counts. Only one borrower on the loan needs to meet the requirement.

The assistance is 5% of your first mortgage loan amount, with a $10,000 minimum and a $35,000 maximum — so loans of $200,000 or less receive the full $10,000. It's provided as a 0% interest, non-amortizing second mortgage and can be used for down payment, closing costs, or both.

You don't make monthly payments on the Hometown Heroes second mortgage. It's a deferred loan — repayment is triggered only when you sell, refinance, transfer the deed, pay off your first mortgage, or stop living in the home as your primary residence. The balance is never forgiven — it's a 0% loan, not a grant.

Part-time workers, no — the program requires current, full-time employment. Self-employed and 1099 workers can qualify if they work full-time for one 1099 employer with a physical Florida location and can document it with a letter from a CPA, bookkeeper, or tax preparer. Multiple part-time 1099 jobs can't be combined to reach full-time.

No. Fully remote employees aren't eligible, no matter who employs them — it's one of the most common reasons applications are denied. Hybrid employees can qualify if they report to their employer's Florida location at least 3 days a week.

Generally, no. Hometown Heroes is the only second mortgage allowed with its first mortgage, and it can't be combined with any other Florida Housing assistance program. Assistance from other agencies is possible only if it stands alone in third lien position — so treat additional stacking as the exception, not the plan. Our team can tell you what's realistic in your county.

Limits vary by county and by program version. The borrower-income version (TBA) counts only the income of the people on the loan and has higher limits — for example, $204,300 in Miami-Dade. The household-income version (Bond) counts everyone in the home 18 and older and has lower limits. We can look up your exact limit in seconds.

Mostly, yes. You can't have owned a home — or had an ownership interest in a primary residence — within the past 3 years. There are two exemptions: veterans with an other-than-dishonorable discharge, and buyers purchasing in a federally designated targeted area. Active-duty service members are not exempt.

The full process from application to closing typically takes 30–45 days. The Hometown Heroes layer adds about 5–10 business days to a standard mortgage timeline for the additional approval steps. Pre-approval itself takes 1–3 business days.