2026-07-26 · Josh Douglas
The short version: You cannot combine two Florida Housing down payment programs. You pick one, then you can put Brevard County's own purchase assistance on top of it, as long as the county money takes third position. Two things changed that most write-ups have not caught up to: Hometown Heroes narrowed who qualifies for 2026, and the money is moving far slower than anyone predicted.
The rule that decides everything else
Florida Housing's current lender guide says it in one line: its down payment assistance cannot be combined with another Florida Housing down payment assistance program. Other subordinate loans may be paired with it if they take third lien position. So you choose exactly one state second mortgage:
- Hometown Heroes: 5% of your loan, $10,000 to $35,000, 0% interest, no monthly payment, repaid when you sell, refinance, or move out.
- FL Assist: $10,000, 0% interest, deferred 30 years, no monthly payment. Never forgiven, always repaid.
- FL HLP: $12,500 at 3%, fully amortizing, which means a real payment of about $53 a month on top of your mortgage.
Hometown Heroes plus FL Assist is not a combination that exists. Anyone telling you to stack those two is describing a loan that will not fund.
Brevard County's purchase assistance is different, because the county is not Florida Housing. It can layer on top. The county's published maximums are up to $75,000 for very low income households (50% of area median or less) and up to $60,000 for low income (51% to 80%). Read the county's own note carefully though: it provides the minimum needed to make the home affordable, not the maximum on the chart.
The 2026 Hometown Heroes change I got wrong earlier this month
On July 16 I wrote that the old heroes-only job list was gone and that retail managers and mechanics were in the conversation. That was true of the 2023 expansion. It is not true of this round, and I would rather correct it than let it sit.
The 2026 program guides and the state's eligible-employer checklist put the occupation gate back. You have to work full time at a Florida brick-and-mortar location for a healthcare provider delivering direct patient care, a K-12 school, a fire department or ambulance service, a law enforcement agency, a correctional or juvenile detention facility, an emergency operations center, a court or State Attorney or Public Defender's office, a licensed childcare facility, or the military.
The fine print inside that list is where people get knocked out. A medical billing office or hospital headquarters does not count, it has to be the facility providing patient care. A school district administrative office does not count, and neither does a college. TSA agents and public works employees do not count. Hybrid workers are eligible, fully remote workers are not.
If that rules you out, you still have options. FL Assist and FL HLP have no occupation requirement, and Brevard County's program never had one.
Order of operations, because the slow one is not the state
Most people start with the state program because it has the biggest number attached. That is backwards here. The county side takes weeks, the state side takes a lender an afternoon.
- Start the county application first. Brevard opened applications on May 29, 2026 and is taking them through June 30, 2027, funded by roughly $2.5 million in this year's state housing allocation plus carry-forward. Community Housing Initiative handles the file at (321) 253-0053.
- Book the education class early. The county requires a 5-hour homebuyer workshop, and the state separately requires a HUD-standard pre-purchase course from one borrower. Certificates are good for two years and post-closing classes are not accepted. This is the most common reason a file sits.
- Check the disqualifiers before you fall for a house. The county caps liquid assets at $15,000, requires first-time buyer status, will not finance a manufactured home, and holds you to 34% front-end and 42% back-end ratios. Sales price caps apply too, and they are the thing most likely to knock a 2026 Brevard purchase out.
- Then get to a participating lender. Only approved lenders can reserve state funds, and reservations run on a 60-day clock to closing. I can introduce you to one at no cost, and you are free to use any participating lender you want. I am not paid for the introduction.
What the money actually looks like right now
Hometown Heroes reopened July 13 with $50 million, and the prediction going around was that it would be gone in about 30 days. It is not tracking that way. The program administrator's lender board showed over $45 million still available as of its July 24 notice, roughly two weeks in. The panic timeline you may have read, including in my own July 16 post, has not materialized.
That is not a reason to stall. It is a reason to do this in the right order instead of a scramble. Income is the other gate worth knowing early: the 2026 Brevard 80% line is $79,700 for a four-person household and $55,800 for one. The 50% line is $49,800 and $34,900.
The honest fine print
All of these are loans recorded against your house, not gifts. Rules, caps, and funding status change every cycle, so verify anything here with a participating lender and with Brevard County Housing and Human Services. And if the assistance covers your down payment but the monthly payment does not work, the program has not helped you. Spend five minutes with the payment calculator and the affordability tool first.
Not sure which lane you are in? Run the eligibility checker, about a minute, no email wall. Or text "DPA" to (321) 576-2239 and tell me where you work and roughly what you earn. I will tell you which of these you qualify for, including when the answer is none of them.