FL Assist

The Florida Assist program lends $10,000 for your down payment and closing costs at 0% interest, with nothing to repay each month.

Florida Assist program terms

• $10,000 as a second mortgage
• 0% interest
• Deferred, so there is no monthly payment
• You repay it when you sell, refinance, or pay off the first mortgage
• Requires a Florida Housing first mortgage, meaning HFA Preferred or HFA Advantage
• First-time buyer under the three-year rule
• Income limits, set by county

Choose between this and Hometown Heroes, not both

This trips up almost everyone reading about Florida assistance for the first time.

Florida Assist and Hometown Heroes are both second mortgages from the same state agency, so you take one or the other rather than stacking them. Hometown Heroes pays considerably more, up to $35,000, yet it requires full-time work in one of 50+ eligible occupations. Florida Assist asks no occupation question at all.

Therefore the decision is simple. Check the Hometown Heroes occupation list first, because if your job appears on it you will almost certainly do better there. If it does not, Florida Assist is the route that stays open to you. Meanwhile a Mortgage Credit Certificate genuinely does stack on top of either one, as does a county SHIP award where your county offers it.

The first mortgage requirement decides your lender

Florida Assist only attaches to a Florida Housing first mortgage, so you cannot pair it with any lender’s ordinary FHA loan. You need a Florida Housing approved lender who can originate both parts together.

Since that constraint arrives at the beginning rather than the end, raise it in your first conversation. Buyers who choose a lender first and discover the limitation later have to start the application again with someone else, which can cost them the funding cycle.

Deferred does not mean forgiven

No monthly payment is genuinely useful, and it is not the same as free money. The $10,000 stays recorded against the property as a second mortgage until you sell, refinance or pay off the first loan, at which point the full amount comes due from the proceeds. Some county programs forgive their awards after a set period, but Florida Assist does not. Budget for it as a real obligation you will settle later.

For everything else available across the state, see the Florida down payment assistance guide, or read about HFA Preferred, which is the first mortgage this pairs with.

Source: Florida Housing Finance Corporation, 2026 program terms. The state allocates this funding annually and it can run out mid-year; confirm current availability and your county’s income limits with a participating lender.