Housing Grants for Disabled Veterans

VA provides grants to Service members and Veterans with certain permanent and total service-connected disabilities to help purchase or construct an adapted home, or modify an existing home to accommodate a disability. Two grant programs exist: the Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) grant and the Special Housing Adaptation (SHA) grant.

HomeStrong Heroes Program

HomeStrong USA is a HUD-Approved Community Development organization providing education and counseling to distressed homeowners as well as potential buyers such as post-foreclosure participants in order to get families back on track to sustainable home ownership. The HomeStrong’s Heroes Program is an affordable home ownership program for local heroes and their families with a focus on those who are now suffering from physical disabilities due to injury, mental disabilities or both. HomeStrong USA provides a path to sustainable home ownership for local heroes through home buyer education and financial management counseling.

Program Overview:

• HomeStrong USA acquires vacant properties, rehabilitates them, and then sells or donates the properties to Veterans (active and inactive).
• HomeStrong USA provides the homes for purchase by Veterans with incentives that may include providing down payment assistance and/or paying applicable closing costs.
• Mandatory financial management seminars and continued one-on-one counseling
• Counselors are USA Cares Certified Military Housing Specialist

GMHC - Minneapolis Houses for Heroes

The Minneapolis Houses for Heroes Home Buyer Assistance Loan Program provides up to $20,000 for down-payment and closing cost assistance to Reservists and National Guard members who have been deployed in the Global War on Terror.

• The house being purchased must be located in the City of Minneapolis.
• The property may be a single-family detached home, condominium, town home or duplex located in any neighborhood in Minneapolis.
• The purchased property must be owner-occupied. Funds are not available to purchase an investment property.
• The home buyer may qualify for up to $20,000 to help pay closing costs,go toward down payment to help qualify for the primary mortgage loan or, in some cases, to make improvements to the home.

Funds are provided in the form of a no-interest deferred loan, with no monthly payments. The loan will be forgiven at a rate of 20% each year so that at the end of the fifth year the loan is no longer repayable, so long as the home buyer lives in the home for the entire five-year period.

The PenFed Foundation Dream Makers Program

The Dream Makers program offers grants for down payment and closing costs to first-time home buyers of modest means who valiantly work to protect our country’s national security. The amount of the grant is determined by a 2-to-1 match of the borrower's contribution to their mortgage in earnest deposit and cash brought at closing with a maximum grant of $5,000. The borrower must contribute a minimum of $500. Grant approvals are contingent upon available funding. You don't have to be a Pentagon Federal Credit Union member to benefit from Dream Makers, and you can apply the grant to a mortgage from any financial institution.

Native American Direct Loan

VA provides direct home loans to eligible Native American Veterans to finance the purchase, construction, or improvement of homes on Federal Trust Land, or to refinance a prior NADL to reduce the interest rate.

• No down payment, no private mortgage insurance cost, and low closing costs.
• 4.50% interest rate. Interest rates are subject to change due to market fluctuations. VA evaluates these market trends and determines if interest rate reductions or increases are warranted.
• $424,100 loan maximum limit in most areas; some high-cost counties have higher loan limits
• Fixed-rate 30-year mortgage
• Can be used to purchase, construct or improve a home on Federal Trust Land