Every program. One page.
Down-payment money, zero-down loans, hurricane-hardening grants, and the tax exemptions Brevard owners never claim, verified against official sources, July 2026. Programs change every cycle; the fine print at the bottom matters.
Down-payment help, ranked.
Most of these are deferred loans, not gifts, 0% interest, no monthly payment, repaid when you sell or refinance. The genuinely forgivable ones are marked. Not sure where you fit? The 60-second quiz sorts you.
FL Hometown Heroes Reopens 7/13
Full-time FL workers · first-time (vets exempt) · 640+ · county income limits
0% deferred second, no monthly payment. $50M statewide, first-come first-served, past rounds gone in weeks. Check eligibility & get lender-ready.
Brevard County HFA Live
640+ · income up to $149,850 · price caps ~$466K (to ~$592K in target areas)
The program almost nobody markets: up to $15,000 as a 0% deferred second plus a Mortgage Credit Certificate worth up to $2,000/year off your federal taxes for the life of the loan. Veterans skip the first-time rule, and so does everyone in four target tracts in Titusville, Cocoa, and Melbourne. brevardhfa.org
Brevard County SHIP Cycles yearly
Lower-to-moderate income · price caps ~$304K existing / $329K new · asset limit · class required
County purchase assistance with real strings and real money. Funding runs July-June and pauses when spent, timing matters. Brevard Housing & Human Services
City of Cocoa Purchase Assistance Live
Home in Cocoa city limits · value ≤$273K · income-tiered · homebuyer class · no pre-1978 homes
One of the richest deals in the county: down payment, closing costs, AND repairs, genuinely forgiven at 10%/year over 10 years. First come, first ready. cocoafl.gov
HFA Preferred / Advantage PLUS Live
Conventional Florida Housing first mortgage only · can’t combine with FL Assist / FL HLP
The only state-level DPA that’s truly forgivable, 20% per year over 5 years, 0%, no payments. The right default if you’re staying put. floridahousing.org
FL HLP Second Mortgage Live
Statewide · carries a small monthly payment (counts in your debt ratio)
Heads up: most websites still say this is $10,000, the official figure is $12,500 as of this writing. Repaid monthly over 30 years rather than deferred. floridahousing.org
Florida Assist Live
FHA / VA / USDA / conventional · 640+ · first-time (3-yr rule)
The straightforward statewide fallback: $10,000, 0%, no payments, repaid at sale or refi. Not forgivable, anyone calling it a “grant” is selling something.
Palm Bay · Melbourne · Titusville Verify with CHI
City HOME/SHIP funds administered by Community Housing Initiatives · (321) 253-0053
Each city runs its own purchase-assistance pot (recent cycles: Palm Bay ~$17K, Melbourne reportedly more). Amounts reset every fiscal year, the new budget finalizes in late July, so call CHI for this cycle’s numbers before you count on a figure. Or text me PROGRAMS and I’ll run the traps for you.
Low, and zero, down.
VA Loan Live
Veterans, active duty, some surviving spouses · funding fee waived with disability rating
Still the strongest loan in America, and Brevard, with Patrick SFB next door, is one of Florida’s most veteran-dense counties. Stacks with Hometown Heroes and the Brevard HFA veteran waiver.
USDA Rural Development Pockets only
Income cap ~$119,850 (1-4 person) · address must map as rural
Real in Brevard, but only in the rural pockets: Mims/Scottsmoor up north, Micco/Grant-Valkaria/Malabar down south. Roughly 85% of the county doesn’t qualify, so check the exact address on USDA’s official map before falling in love.
HomeReady / Home Possible Live
Income ≤80% of area median · ~620+ · free online course if first-time
Conventional 3%-down with cheaper mortgage insurance than FHA, and it’s the loan type the forgivable HFA PLUS second attaches to. FHA (3.5% down) remains the fallback for thinner credit.
Good Neighbor Next Door Rarely actionable
Teachers, law enforcement, firefighters, EMTs · HUD-owned homes in revitalization areas
Honest take: the program is real, but HUD forecloses on so few homes now that usable inventory is near zero. If you’re in these professions, Hometown Heroes + the Brevard HFA are the programs that actually close.
Money you’re leaving on the table.
Brevard owners routinely miss these. Every exemption below is filed free at bcpao.us, first-time deadline is March 1.
Homestead Exemption File by Mar 1
Your primary residence · renews automatically once granted
The base $25,000 plus an additional portion that now adjusts upward with inflation every year, and filing starts your 3% Save Our Homes cap. Missing the deadline costs a full year of both.
Portability Move-up sellers
Transfer your Save Our Homes savings between Florida homesteads
Selling a long-held Florida home? You can carry up to $500,000 of your capped-assessment savings to the next one, often worth $1,000-$3,000 a year. Almost nobody runs this math before listing. I do.
Veteran Exemptions Deep in Brevard
$5K at 10%+ disability · 100% at total & permanent · combat 65+ discount · deployed proration
And the one almost no agent knows: totally-and-permanently disabled veterans who buy mid-year can claim a prorated refund of taxes already paid at closing (FS 196.081). That’s a closing-table conversation worth having.
The Ones Nobody Claims Live
Widow(er) $5,000 · blind/disability $5,000 · limited-income senior 65+ up to $50K · granny-flat reduction
The widow/widower exemption was raised tenfold recently, older websites still list $500. If someone in your household fits any of these, it’s free money every single year.
My Safe Florida Home Funded 2026
Free wind-mitigation inspection + grants · priority queue by income & age
Free inspection, then up to $10,000 toward roof connections, impact openings, and garage-door reinforcement, upgrades that also cut your insurance premium via mandatory wind-mitigation credits. mysafeflhome.com
Save Our Indian River Lagoon Live
IRL watershed properties · apply BEFORE starting work · (321) 633-2016
Up to $20K to upgrade a septic system, up to $24K to connect to sewer (with a $6,000 minimum for every plan-area property), up to $10K for lateral replacement. On septic and thinking of selling? This changes your listing math, ask me.
Stale info, debunked.
- The statewide Florida MCC is dead, Florida Housing hasn’t issued Mortgage Credit Certificates since the end of 2020, no matter what other sites say. In Brevard, the county HFA program above is the only live route to that $2,000/year credit.
- FL HLP is $12,500, not $10,000, the number on most mortgage blogs is years old.
- Most “grants” aren’t grants. FL Assist, Hometown Heroes, and the Brevard HFA second are deferred loans repaid when you sell. Genuinely forgivable in this county: HFA PLUS (5 years) and Cocoa’s program (10 years). Anyone who blurs that line is selling you something.
- You can’t stack everything. FL Assist and FL HLP can’t combine with HFA PLUS, it’s either/or, and the right pick depends on how long you’ll stay. That’s a ten-minute conversation, not a guess.
Questions people actually ask.
What down-payment assistance exists in Brevard County besides Hometown Heroes?
Brevard buyers may also qualify for the Brevard County HFA program (up to $15,000 plus a $2,000/year Mortgage Credit Certificate), Brevard County SHIP (up to $75,000, income-tiered), City of Cocoa Purchase Assistance (up to $37,400, forgivable over 10 years), Florida Assist ($10,000), FL HLP ($12,500), HFA Preferred/Advantage PLUS (3-5% of the loan, forgivable over 5 years), and city HOME/SHIP funds in Palm Bay, Melbourne, and Titusville.
Is Florida down-payment assistance a grant or a loan?
Most Florida programs are 0%-interest deferred loans repaid when you sell or refinance, not grants. In Brevard, the genuinely forgivable options are HFA Preferred/Advantage PLUS (forgiven over 5 years) and the City of Cocoa program (forgiven over 10 years).
Does the Florida Mortgage Credit Certificate still exist?
Florida Housing has not issued statewide MCCs since December 31, 2020. In Brevard County, the live route to a Mortgage Credit Certificate (up to $2,000/year federal tax credit) is the Brevard County Housing Finance Authority Home Ownership Program.
When is the Florida homestead exemption deadline?
March 1 for first-time filings with the Brevard County Property Appraiser (bcpao.us). Filing also starts your 3% Save Our Homes assessment cap; it renews automatically in later years.
Which ones fit you?
Sixty seconds on the quiz, or text me PROGRAMS and I'll sort your stack, including the city funds that need a phone call to verify this cycle's numbers.
Verified against official program sources July 2026. Amounts, income limits, and funding availability change every cycle, always confirm current terms with the administering agency or a participating lender before making offers. Nothing here is lending, legal, or tax advice.