Florida Mortgage Programs

Every Florida mortgage program that helps a buyer close, from statewide assistance to county funds, and how they combine.

The Florida mortgage programs available in 2026

• Hometown Heroes: up to 5% of the loan, capped at $35,000, for 50+ eligible occupations
• FL Assist: $10,000 as a 0% deferred second mortgage
• HFA Preferred and Advantage: below-market rates with reduced mortgage insurance
• SHIP programs: county-administered funds, with amounts set locally
• Mortgage Credit Certificate: up to $2,000 a year as a federal tax credit
• Energy efficient mortgages: finance hardening and efficiency upgrades into the loan
• County programs: local assistance that stacks on the state ones

They fall into three layers, and knowing which is which saves time

Read as a list, these look like seven competing options. They are not. They occupy three different layers, and most buyers end up using one from each.

The first mortgage. HFA Preferred and HFA Advantage sit here. This is the actual loan buying the house, and choosing a Florida Housing first mortgage is what unlocks the layer above it.

The down payment second. Hometown Heroes and FL Assist both live here, and you take one or the other rather than both. Hometown Heroes pays far more, though it asks that you work full-time in an eligible occupation. FL Assist asks no occupation question.

The extras. A Mortgage Credit Certificate and a county SHIP award genuinely stack on top of the first two layers, because they draw on separate funding.

Therefore a common Florida stack looks like this: an HFA first mortgage, Hometown Heroes for the down payment, an MCC for annual tax savings, and county money on top where your county has some left.

Two conditions gate almost all of them

First, the lender. State assistance only originates through a Florida Housing approved lender, so choosing a lender who cannot offer these programs removes them before you start. Ask that question in the first conversation rather than the fifth.

Second, the education course. Nearly every program requires a HUD-approved homebuyer education course, and buyers routinely discover this in the week they hoped to close. Book it early, since it costs little and takes a few hours.

Where to go next

The Florida down payment assistance guide compares the amounts side by side. If you are buying your first home, start with first time buyer programs, and remember that the three-year rule means many repeat buyers still qualify.

Source: Florida Housing Finance Corporation, 2026 program terms. Funding runs in annual cycles and can be exhausted mid-year; confirm current availability with an approved lender.