What is the Florida Hometown Heroes Program?

The Florida Hometown Heroes Program is a state-funded down payment and closing cost assistance program for Florida's frontline workforce. Eligible buyers receive 5% of their loan amount — a minimum of $10,000 and a maximum of $35,000 — as a 0%-interest second mortgage with no monthly payment, due when the home sells, is refinanced, or stops being the buyer's primary residence. The standard 1% origination fee is also waived. The 2026 funding round opened July 13, 2026 with $50 million and is first-come, first-served through participating Florida Housing-approved lenders. Kim A. Pollaro, REALTOR® with Coast to Coast Collective | Real Broker, LLC, Florida License SL3575590, helps buyers in Orlando, Winter Garden, and Kissimmee connect with a participating lender before they start touring homes. Call 1-407-584-1879 or book at kimpollaro.com.

Who is eligible for the Florida Hometown Heroes Program in 2026?

Eligibility comes down to your employer and your credit, not just your job title. You need full-time work for an eligible Florida-based employer at a specific physical Florida address — healthcare providers and hospitals, kindergarten-through-twelfth-grade public, private, charter, or magnet schools, fire departments and ambulance services, law enforcement and correctional facilities, courts, and licensed childcare facilities all qualify, as does active-duty military, the Florida National Guard, and veterans. You also need a credit score of at least 640 for every borrower on the loan, income under your county's limit, and — with exemptions for veterans and buyers in a federally designated targeted area — no ownership interest in a primary residence in the past three years.

Do remote or hybrid workers qualify for the Florida Hometown Heroes Program?

Fully remote employees are not eligible, even if their employer is an otherwise-qualifying Florida hospital, school district, or agency — this is one of the most common reasons an otherwise-qualified buyer gets denied. Hybrid employees can still qualify, but only if they report to their employer's physical Florida location at least three days a week. This matters for a lot of relocating professionals: if you negotiated a fully remote arrangement with your new Florida employer, confirm your in-office schedule with your lender before counting on this assistance.

What are the Florida Hometown Heroes income limits in Orlando, Winter Garden, Lake Nona, and Kissimmee?

As of May 2026, Orange County (Orlando, Winter Garden, Windermere, Lake Nona, Dr. Phillips), Osceola County (Kissimmee and most of Championsgate), Seminole County, and Lake County all share the same limits: $172,350 in borrower income counted alone, or $114,900 in total household income for a one-to-two-person household ($132,135 for three or more people) if your lender uses the household-income version instead. If you're buying on the Polk County side of Championsgate, the limit is lower — $148,050 borrower income. Limits update periodically, so Kim A. Pollaro and a Florida Housing-approved lender confirm the live figure before you write an offer. Call 1-407-584-1879.

Do veterans have to meet the same job requirements as other Florida Hometown Heroes applicants?

No. Veterans with an other-than-dishonorable discharge can work full-time for any Florida-based employer — the eligible-employer categories that apply to everyone else don't apply to veterans — and veterans are also exempt from the three-year first-time homebuyer requirement. Full-time employment is still required, so a retired veteran with no current job does not qualify. Because the assistance is repaid when the home sells or stops being your primary residence, service members who expect to move again within a few years should also weigh a Department of Veterans Affairs loan on its own against layering Hometown Heroes on top of it.

How fast does Florida Hometown Heroes funding usually run out?

Quickly, and unevenly. A $100 million round in 2023 was reserved in under three weeks; a similar round in 2024 lasted about five weeks; the most recent full cycle took roughly six months and helped more than 3,000 Florida families before it was gone. The 2026 round opened July 13 with $50 million — half the size of those faster-moving rounds — on a strict first-come, first-served basis. There's no way to predict exactly when it closes, which is the actual argument for getting pre-qualified with a participating lender now, before you've found the home, rather than after.

The Florida Hometown Heroes Program in 2026: Up to $35,000 in Down Payment Help

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