Home Improvement Grants      Home Repair and Preservation Grants     First Time Homeowner Grants

Grants for Housing

Bookmark and Share

You probably already heard about “free government housing grants”. But have you wondered if they really exist? Is there really free housing grants?

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

Yes there are many grant programs for housing, adapted homes, home improvements and renovations, rental assistance, home down payment assistance and many other government housing grants programs for different citizen categories. Government grants for housing are mostly offered by the Federal government agency responsible for housing, HUD. Their housing grants are usually offered to community organizations, states, local groups and other non-profits who in turn provides housing help to the general public. So the government is usually not directly giving away free housing money to the public.

government housing grants home Are government housing grants programs free?

No, they come with results requirement for community groups administering them. The house programs targeting consumers are also not free as they are mostly loans, even if they're reduced interest loans and are cheaper than a bank loan. Housing programs for homes are also not for everyone as each program is different and each home program has different eligibility requirements. Most programs are intented for people with low income who, for example, wouldn't be able to get a regular bank loan to fix their house. Another example, homeowners who need emergency repair or renovation to their house. These are only 2 examples but there are many other programs available to anyone. Simply to sure to look for the housing programs for your need and check your eligibility.

So in a nutshell, there grants for housing targeting consumers are rarely free. This doesn't mean you can't save money with them. Most of the time you could get a reduced interest loans (call it an "indirect grants"). With such "indirect grants" the government leave you with more money in your pocket than you would without such programs. The main types of “indirect” housing grants are subsidized loans for a mortgage and loans guarantees.

Subsidized loans and loans 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. The government then guarantees your mortgage for you. Not too shaby. Such indirect government grants for housing 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 you to do some home improvements or buy a house when banks would refuse you a loan. For example, a home grant program could enable you to get a reduced interest rate on your home renovation loan or a bank's mortgage. Instead of paying 7%, the housing program could pay 0.5% while your loan interest is reduced to 6.5%. In such cases the government doesn’t give you housing money directly, but you still end up with more money in your pocket at the end of the month. Some grants for home improvements for example can come in the form of money given to you directly. In the case of emergency repairs the government can 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. At the end of the day just remember, government grants for housing are rarely free and not every one are eligible.


Who's eligible?

Each housing grant program has its own set of requirements andrules. In order to find out if you are eligible you need to contact your local HUD office and your state housing authorities. In some cases, cities and counties may also offer local government housing grants. Be sure to give them a call, you may be surprise with the help you can get from them. If you are looking for money for a home or to do some home renovations a government housing program may help achieve your goal.

Also the sooner you can call to verify the available housing grant to you the sooner you may benefit from them. As you can imagine. There are often waiting lists to receive money. As a last note, be warry of companies telling you that you are 100% sure of receiving a grant. As you know now, 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. Only the government agency or the non-profit offer the program can tell you if you are eligigle or not, and if they still have money in their budget. You can always verify the requirements for housing grants by yourself with official programs. Also feel free to ask help from the government agency's employee if you need help figuring your housing programs.