Grants for Minorities

You probably already heard about “free government housing grants”. Have you wondered if they really exist? Or if they are really always free housing grants?

The honest answer if yes and no. Here's why…

Yes there are over 400 grants programs for housing, adapted homes, home improvements and renovations, rental assistance, home down payment assistance and many government housing grants programs for different citizen categories. Grants and financial housing assistance are mostly offered the Federal government agency responsible for housing, HUD.

Are government grant housing programs always free? No, not always because each program is different and each housing grant program has different eligibility requirements. Depending on the housing program some of them will be a direct cash grant given to a person, while some other comes in the form of indirect financial grant assistance.

The main types of “indirect” housing grant assistance are subsidized loans for a mortgage and mortgage guarantees. Let say you want to buy a home but banks don’t want to lend you the money because you don’t have the cash down necessary to forgive the mortgage insurance. In such cases HUD may pay your mortgage insurance for you. In this case the government is guaranteeing your mortgage for you. This government housing grant program doesn’t give you money directly, but it can still enable you to achieve your goal of buying a home. You can find all available housing grants and home grants on myfinancialprograms.com but also on official sites like HUD.gov and your state's housing agency.

Some other government grants for housing will subsidize a loan or a mortgage in order to enable to do some home improvements or buy a house. For example, a home grant program could offer get a reduced interest rate on your home renovation loan or mortgage from a bank. Instead of paying 7%, the government grant for housing could pay 0.5% while you only have to pay 6.5%. This way the government doesn’t give you grant money directly, but you still end up with more money in your pocket at the end of the month. Some grant for home improvements for example can come in the form of money given to you directly.  The government give you a grant in order to fix your house or a home you are looking to buy in order to make it safe and liveable. Just remember that government grant are not always free and not every one are eligible.

Each grant program has its own set of requirements and rules. In order to find out if you are eligible you can contact your local HUD office and your state housing authorities. In some cases, cities and counties may also offer local government housing grants. If you are looking for money for a home or to do some home renovations a housing grant may help achieve your goal.

Also the sooner you can call to verify the housing grant available to you the sooner you may benefit from them. As a last note, be aware of companies telling you that you are 100% sure of receiving a grant. Unless they can tell you the eligibility requirement for the grant you are looking for you should take their promise with a grain of salt. You can always verify the requirements for your grants by yourself, then see if you are eligible and request the help of a company if you need help. This way you won’t have to take their word for it!