The Florida Hometown Heroes Program: Up to $35,000 in Down Payment Help for Navarre and Santa Rosa County Buyers

If the only thing standing between you and a home is the cash to close, Florida has a program worth knowing about. The Hometown Heroes program can provide down payment and closing cost assistance to eligible Florida buyers, and it reaches further up the income scale than most assistance programs.

Hometown Heroes gives eligible buyers a 0% interest, deferred second mortgage worth up to $35,000, used for the down payment and closing costs on a first mortgage. You make no monthly payment on it. It is repaid only when you sell, refinance, pay off the first mortgage, transfer the deed, or stop living in the home.

I am Leah Bieber, a mortgage loan originator (NMLS #2668541) with USA Mortgage, based in Navarre, Florida. This guide covers how the program works, who qualifies, what you can buy, and the one thing that trips people up: the funding runs out.

Hometown Heroes is a Florida state program, administered by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. It was created to help Florida workers buy a home in the communities they serve.

The assistance comes as a second mortgage behind your main home loan. Two features make it useful:

• It carries a 0% interest rate and has no monthly payment. It sits quietly behind your first mortgage.
• It is deferred. You do not pay it back on a schedule. It becomes due only when you sell the home, refinance the first mortgage, pay the first mortgage off, transfer the deed, or the home stops being your primary residence.

It is assistance you repay eventually, not a grant. But because there is no interest and no monthly payment, it does not add to your housing cost while you own the home.

The assistance is 5% of your first mortgage loan amount, with a minimum of $10,000 and a maximum of $35,000.

So a buyer with a larger loan gets closer to the $35,000 cap. A buyer with a smaller loan gets 5% of that amount, down to the $10,000 floor.

The money can go toward your down payment, your closing costs, or both.

To qualify for Hometown Heroes, you generally need to meet all of the following:

• First-time homebuyer status. Generally, this means you have not owned and lived in a primary residence in the past three years. A lender can confirm whether an exception applies to you, including for people who have served in the military.
• Full-time employment with a Florida-based employer in an eligible field: health care, schools, first responders, public safety, courts, child care, or the military. The list is by employer and includes many roles inside those fields, so ask whether yours counts.
• A minimum credit score of 640.
• Household income under your county's limit. Limits are set county by county. For example, Santa Rosa County is $148,050 for FHA, VA and HFA Advantage loans and $119,850 for USDA loans, effective May 6, 2026. Limits change, so check the current figure for your county.
• The home must be your primary residence, and you must move in within 60 days of closing.

Eligible property types include:

• Single-family homes, attached or detached (one unit)
• Two-to-four-unit properties, if you live in one of the units
• Approved condominiums
• Newer manufactured homes, with certain loan types

The program works with FHA, VA, USDA-RD, and Conventional first mortgages. The property has to be your primary residence.

No sales price limit is set by the program. What does cap the amount is the first loan. For Santa Rosa County, the maximum first loan is $541,287 for FHA and $832,750 for VA and HFA Advantage loans, effective May 6, 2026.

In many cases, yes. Hometown Heroes can be layered with certain county or city down payment assistance programs. Which combinations are allowed depends on the other program's rules. This is worth mapping out early, because stacking programs can change what is possible.

This is the part that catches people.

Hometown Heroes is first come, first served. Funds are limited, and they run out each year. When they are gone, the next release comes later, so the buyers who are ready move first.

To reserve funds, you generally need to be pre-approved and under contract on a home. That means getting pre-approved early and knowing your eligibility before you find the home is what keeps you in the running. Your lender can tell you what is available at any time.

The fastest way is the quick check below, followed by a short conversation. In about 15 minutes I can tell you what your county's current income limit is, whether your job is on the list, and how the assistance would fit with the rest of your financing.

There is no cost, and I do not need to run your credit to have the conversation.

Book your 15-minute strategy call

The quick check takes about two minutes. It is not a final answer. It tells you whether a conversation is worth your time, and what to bring to it.

Leah Bieber, NMLS #2668541.

Not an offer to lend. Subject to credit approval and additional terms apply. DAS Acquisition Company, LLC dba USA Mortgage NMLS #227262. Headquarters: 12140 Woodcrest Executive Drive, Suite 150, St. Louis, Missouri 63141, Toll Free: (888) 250-6522. For licensing information, go to: www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org. Interest rates and products are subject to change without notice and may or may not be available at the time of commitment or lock-in. DAS Acquisition Company, LLC is not affiliated with or endorsed by any government entity or agency, including USDA, HUD or VA. The Florida Hometown Heroes program is administered by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation; program terms, funding, and eligibility are set by that agency and are subject to change.

Equal Housing Opportunity.