Texas first-time home buyer assistance: 14 programs, and the catch in every one
Fourteen Texas home buyer assistance programs, ordered by how many buyers the rules let in. Each one carries its source, its limits, and the catch nobody advertises.
The 14 programs, and how this list is ordered
Fourteen programs, each checked against the administering agency's own page on September 14, 2026. They are ordered by how many buyers the rules let in, widest first. Statewide programs come before city and county ones, because a statewide program is open to more Texans by definition. Inside each group, the ones with the fewest gates lead. Three are closed to new applications today. They still appear, at the bottom, because knowing a door is shut beats not knowing it was there.
- Every dollar figure below is a published ceiling, not an amount anyone is owed. Awards are worked out from household income, the property, and what the program has left in its cycle.
- Income limits are set by county and household size. There is no single statewide number, so each entry points at the agency table that holds the real one.
- No interest rates appear on this page. Program rates are set centrally and move often, and a rate printed on a web page is stale a week later.
- This is a list of money and tax credits. It is not a list of lenders, not an application, and not a decision about any individual.
| Program | Where it works | Open to repeat buyers? | What you get | Credit floor | Open today? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| My Choice Texas Home | Statewide | Yes | 2% to 5% of the loan amount, as a second lien | 620 | Yes |
| Home Sweet Texas Home Loan Program | Statewide | Yes | A grant, or a forgivable second lien | 620 | Yes |
| Homes for Texas Heroes Program | Statewide, listed professions only | Yes | A grant, or a forgivable second lien | 620 | Yes |
| My First Texas Home | Statewide | No | 2% to 5% of the loan amount, as a second lien | 620 | Yes |
| Texas Mortgage Credit Certificate Program | Statewide | No | A yearly federal tax credit | None, on the stand-alone option | Yes |
| TSAHC Mortgage Credit Certificate | Statewide | No | 15% of yearly mortgage interest back as a tax credit | – | Yes |
| Homebuyer Assistance with New Construction (HANC) | Statewide, through local partners | – | A fixed-rate loan over 15 to 30 years | – | Yes |
| Texas Bootstrap Loan Program | Statewide, but not every area | – | Up to $45,000 at 0% interest | – | Yes |
| Dallas Homebuyer Assistance Program (DHAP) | City of Dallas | – | Up to $60,000, based on need | – | Yes |
| City of Austin Down Payment Assistance | Austin full-purpose city limits | No | Up to $40,000 | – | Yes |
| Harris County Down Payment Assistance | Unincorporated Harris County only | No | Up to $40,000, with a $27,100 base award | 580 | Yes |
| Homeownership Incentive Program 120 (HIP 120) | City of San Antonio | – | $1,000 to $15,000 at 0% interest | – | No, not for FY 2026 |
| Homeownership Incentive Program 80 (HIP 80) | City of San Antonio | – | $1,000 to $30,000 at 0% interest | – | No, not for FY 2026 |
| Homebuyer Assistance Program (HAP) | City of Houston | No | Up to $75,000 | – | No, funds exhausted |
Statewide programs open to buyers who have owned a home before
Three statewide programs drop the first-time buyer rule entirely. That makes them the widest doors in Texas, and the first place to look for anyone who has owned before.
1. My Choice Texas Home
My Choice Texas Home is the TDHCA program with no first-time buyer requirement and no purchase price limit. Nothing else on this list offers that pair.
- Who it is for: any Texas buyer occupying the home as a principal residence, first-time or repeat, plus qualified veterans. Income limits apply by county and household size. Only the income of the borrowers on the application counts, and a non-purchasing spouse is excluded.
- What you get: a 30-year fixed first mortgage plus a second lien worth 2% to 5% of the total loan amount, at 0% interest. You pick the shape. The 30-year deferred version is repaid when you sell, refinance or pay off. The 3-year version is forgiven after 36 months if you stay current and stay in the house.
- 🔑 The catch: the matrix says the money is there "funding permitting", so it exists while the state has some and not by right. The bigger cost is the rate. On a state program the rate on the first mortgage is set centrally, not by the market. That is how cash handed over at closing gets paid back over thirty years.
- Source: TDHCA, My Choice Texas Home program matrix, published August 17, 2026. welcomehome.tdhca.texas.gov
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
2. Home Sweet Texas Home Loan Program
Home Sweet Texas Home is TSAHC's general-population program. It is the one that applies when a buyer does not fit the Heroes profession list.
- Who it is for: low and moderate income Texans statewide. No first-time buyer rule, a 620 credit floor, and county income limits set by TSAHC.
- What you get: a fixed-rate first mortgage plus down payment assistance, in a form you choose. A grant never has to be repaid. A deferred forgivable second lien is repaid only if you sell or refinance within three years.
- 🔑 The catch: TSAHC does not publish the assistance amount on the program page at all. The size of the help is unknowable until a participating lender runs it. You also cannot apply to TSAHC directly, and the education course has to be finished before closing rather than after.
- Source: TSAHC, Home Sweet Texas Home Loan Program. tsahc.org
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
3. Homes for Texas Heroes Program
Homes for Texas Heroes runs on the same TSAHC machinery as Home Sweet Texas Home. It is reserved for a closed list of professions, and it carries one benefit the other does not.
- Who it is for: professional educators, including teachers, teacher aides, school librarians, school counselors and school nurses. Also police officers, firefighters and EMS, public security officers, veterans and active military, corrections and juvenile corrections officers, and nursing and allied health faculty. A 620 credit floor and income limits apply. No first-time buyer rule.
- What you get: a fixed-rate first mortgage plus assistance as a grant, or as a forgivable second lien repayable only on sale or refinance within three years. A Texas Hero who adds a Mortgage Credit Certificate gets it free, which TSAHC puts at $500.
- 🔑 The catch: the profession list is the whole gate, and it is narrower than it reads. The school roles are specified as full-time positions in a public school district. The private-school teacher and the hospital nurse who assume they are covered are not. If the job is not on the list, this is not the program. Home Sweet Texas Home is.
- Source: TSAHC, Homes for Texas Heroes Program. tsahc.org
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
Statewide programs with a first-time buyer rule or a narrow purpose
Five statewide programs are open to fewer people. Some apply a three-year lookback on home ownership. Others work only for one kind of purchase. Two are tax credits rather than cash, a difference worth understanding before counting on either.
4. My First Texas Home
My First Texas Home is the bond-funded TDHCA program for first-time buyers. It is the sibling of My Choice with two extra gates on it.
- Who it is for: first-time buyers who have not owned and occupied a primary residence in the last three years, at a 620 middle credit score, inside county income and purchase price limits. Qualified veterans with a DD-214 are exempt from the first-time rule, as is any buyer of a home in a Qualified Targeted Census Tract.
- What you get: an FHA, VA or USDA 30-year fixed first mortgage, plus a second lien worth 2% to 5% of the total loan amount at 0% interest. The deferred and 3-year forgivable shapes match My Choice. Bonus gift funds stack in three areas: Capital Area HFC pays $2,500 to $7,500, McKinney HFC $5,000, and Harris County HFC $1,000.
- 🔑 The catch: purchase price limits apply here and do not on My Choice. The program may also be subject to federal income tax recapture. TDHCA requires three years of IRS transcripts or signed returns from every borrower, and a non-purchasing spouse's income counts toward the limit. My Choice requires no tax returns and is not subject to recapture.
- Source: TDHCA, My First Texas Home program matrix, published August 17, 2026. welcomehome.tdhca.texas.gov
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
5. Texas Mortgage Credit Certificate Program
The Texas Mortgage Credit Certificate is TDHCA's tax credit rather than a pot of cash. It is the one program here with no credit score floor.
- Who it is for: first-time buyers and veterans, either alongside a My First Texas Home first mortgage or as a stand-alone certificate. Income limits and sales price restrictions apply. TDHCA states there is no minimum credit score requirement on the stand-alone option.
- What you get: a dollar-for-dollar reduction on federal tax liability, every year you keep the loan and live in the home.
- 🔑 The catch: a tax credit only does something for a household that owes federal income tax. It hands nothing to a buyer whose liability is already near zero. It also arrives at tax time, not at the closing table where the money is needed. TDHCA's own page says supplies are limited, and the certificate cannot be combined with the bond-only unassisted first lien.
- Source: TDHCA, Texas Mortgage Credit Certificate Program. welcomehome.tdhca.texas.gov
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
6. TSAHC Mortgage Credit Certificate
TSAHC runs its own Mortgage Credit Certificate on a parallel track to the TDHCA one. It publishes the percentage the TDHCA page does not.
- Who it is for: first-time buyers meeting TSAHC's income requirements, buying inside its sales price restrictions. It can be combined with Homes for Texas Heroes or Home Sweet Texas Home.
- What you get: 15% of what you spent on mortgage interest back as a federal tax credit each year. Because it refunds part of the interest, TSAHC describes it as effectively reducing the mortgage interest rate.
- 🔑 The catch: the same tax-credit problem as the TDHCA version. It is worth nothing to a household with no federal tax liability, and it pays annually rather than at closing. It is also first-time buyers only, so a repeat buyer taking TSAHC assistance does not get the certificate with it.
- Source: TSAHC, Mortgage Credit Certificates. tsahc.org
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
7. Homebuyer Assistance with New Construction (HANC)
HANC is the TDHCA program that funds mortgage financing for low-income buyers of newly built housing. Almost nobody reaches it directly.
- Who it is for: low-income households buying newly constructed housing, placing a new manufactured housing unit, or building a single-family home on land they already own. It is funded through the federal HOME Investment Partnerships Program.
- What you get: a fixed-rate loan with a term of 15 to 30 years. TDHCA states interest may be as low as zero percent.
- 🔑 The catch: you cannot apply to the state. TDHCA contracts the money out to local governments, housing authorities and nonprofits. The program only exists for you if one of them holds an active HANC agreement where you are buying. It also will not help with an ordinary resale, which is most of the market.
- Source: TDHCA, Homebuyer Assistance with New Construction. tdhca.texas.gov
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
8. Texas Bootstrap Loan Program
The Texas Bootstrap Loan Program is a self-help construction loan. The buyer supplies the labor rather than a down payment.
- Who it is for: low-income owner-builders at or below 80% of the state or local Area Median Family Income, buying or refinancing land to build or repair housing on it.
- What you get: up to $45,000 per household at 0% interest, over a term of up to 30 years, meant to be combined with other loan funds.
- 🔑 The catch: owner-builders have to provide at least 65% of the labor themselves, working through a state-certified administrator or a Colonia Self-Help Center. TDHCA also states plainly that the program is not available in all areas of Texas. This is a construction commitment, not a down payment shortcut.
- Source: TDHCA, Texas Bootstrap Loan Program. tdhca.texas.gov
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
City and county programs open to new applications today
Three local programs are taking applications. Local money is usually the largest single amount a Texas buyer can get. It is also the slowest and most conditional, because it is block grant money.
9. Dallas Homebuyer Assistance Program (DHAP)
DHAP is the City of Dallas program for low and moderate income households. Since May 1, 2026 the city no longer runs it directly.
- Who it is for: buyers purchasing inside Dallas city limits, with household income at or below 80% of Area Median Income for their household size. The housing payment may not exceed 35% of monthly gross income. You need an executed sales contract and first-lien mortgage approval already in hand.
- What you get: an interest-free forgivable second lien with no monthly payments. Up to $60,000 in a High Opportunity Area, up to $50,000 elsewhere in Dallas. It is forgiven pro rata each year across the affordability period.
- 🔑 The catch: the maximum sales price is $342,000 for existing homes and new construction alike, a limit set for contracts written on or after September 1, 2024. Assistance is based on need and first come, first served, so the ceiling is not an entitlement. Partial repayment falls due if you sell, lease or transfer before the period ends. The Targeted Occupations extension of DHAP has had all its funding expended.
- Source: City of Dallas Housing and Homelessness Solutions, DHAP, now administered by BCL of Texas. dallascityhall.com
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
10. City of Austin Down Payment Assistance
Austin's program covers down payment and closing costs for income-eligible first-time buyers inside the city's full-purpose limits.
- Who it is for: first-time buyers, anyone who has not owned a home in the last three years, or anyone displaced or divorced. Income at or below 80% Median Family Income. The home must be a single-family house or condominium inside Austin's full-purpose city limits.
- What you get: up to $40,000 toward the down payment, closing costs and pre-paid expenses.
- 🔑 The catch: the sales price cannot exceed $440,000. The property has to sit inside the full-purpose city limits rather than simply carry an Austin address, which the city asks you to confirm on a jurisdiction map. The required education course costs $99, plus the course handbook. You also have to use a loan officer from the city's participating lender list, which runs to single digits.
- Source: City of Austin Housing Department, Homebuyer Resources. austintexas.gov
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
11. Harris County Down Payment Assistance Program
Harris County runs gap financing as a silent second mortgage. The most important word in its rules is unincorporated.
- Who it is for: first-time buyers who have not owned a home for three years prior to applying, income qualified, with a credit score of at least 580.
- What you get: a silent second mortgage toward the gap. The maximum award is $40,000 after all eligible incentives, and the actual base award for down payment, pre-paid items and closing costs is $27,100.
- 🔑 The catch: the home must be in the unincorporated areas of Harris County, which excludes the City of Houston entirely. It must also sit in a qualified census tract with a population below 200% of the median income. Price limits are $285,000 for a pre-existing home and $296,000 for new construction. There is a liquid asset cap of $30,000, so saving too much can rule a buyer out. The affordability period is 5 years under a $25,000 award and 10 years between $25,000 and $40,000.
- Source: Harris County Community Services Department, Down Payment Assistance. hcd.harriscountytx.gov
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
City programs that are closed to new applications right now
The three below are real, were funded in past years, and are shut today. They are here because a buyer who finds one on a third-party list can lose a month chasing it. Block grant money reopens about as reliably as it runs out.
12. Homeownership Incentive Program 120 (HIP 120)
HIP 120 is the City of San Antonio's assistance program for moderate income households. It is not accepting new applications.
- Who it is for: buyers inside San Antonio city limits in the 120% Area Median Income band.
- What you get: between $1,000 and $15,000 as a second loan at 0% interest with no payments, for the down payment your lender requires and some purchase costs.
- 🔑 The catch: it is closed for FY 2026. The city says funding will become available October 1, 2026 if renewed by City Council, and that "if" is doing real work. When it is open, forgiveness is partial rather than total. 25% of the loan is perpetual and never forgiven. Only the remaining 75% is forgiven, over a 10-year period.
- Source: City of San Antonio Neighborhood and Housing Services, Homeownership Incentive Programs. sa.gov
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
13. Homeownership Incentive Program 80 (HIP 80)
HIP 80 is the lower-income half of the same San Antonio pair. It lends more than HIP 120 and it is closed on the same timetable.
- Who it is for: buyers inside San Antonio city limits in the 80% Area Median Income band.
- What you get: between $1,000 and $30,000 as a second loan at 0% interest with no payments.
- 🔑 The catch: closed for FY 2026, with the same conditional October 1, 2026 reopening. Forgiveness is slower on the larger loans. $1,000 to $15,000 is forgiven over 5 years, and $15,001 to $30,000 over 10 years, so taking the bigger number means staying put twice as long.
- Source: City of San Antonio Neighborhood and Housing Services, Homeownership Incentive Programs. sa.gov
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
14. Homebuyer Assistance Program (HAP), City of Houston
Houston's HAP carries the largest published figure of any program on this list. It has also run out of money.
- Who it is for: first-time buyers purchasing inside Houston city limits, with household income at or below 80% of Area Median Income.
- What you get: up to $75,000 in subsidy based on household financial need. It is a no-interest forgivable loan secured by a lien, fulfilled once the buyer has lived in the home for five years.
- 🔑 The catch: the city states that funds are exhausted and it is no longer accepting or processing applications. No extensions are being granted on existing pre-approval letters, and applications without pre-approval are on hold until further notice. Separately, assistance is suspended inside the Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens sampling zone for the duration of an EPA investigation. Sell or move out before five years are up and you repay a portion.
- Source: City of Houston Housing and Community Development, Homebuyer Assistance Program. houstontx.gov
- Last checked: September 14, 2026.
What is the income limit for down payment assistance in Texas?
There is no single Texas income limit. Anyone who gives you one number is describing one program in one county. Every program here sets its ceiling from an area median figure that moves by county and household size, so the honest answer is a method rather than a number.
- The state programs publish a county-by-household-size table. TDHCA uses its Income and Purchase Price Limits Table and TSAHC uses its own. The limit changes with where the house is and how many people live in it.
- City and county programs use a percentage band instead. Dallas and Houston use 80% of Area Median Income, Austin uses 80% Median Family Income, and San Antonio runs 80% and 120% bands.
- The definition of income is not the same across programs, and that is where people get caught. On My Choice Texas Home only the borrowers' income on the application counts, and a non-purchasing spouse is excluded. On My First Texas Home, household income includes anyone expected to live in the home and become liable on the deed of trust, a non-purchasing spouse included.
- City and county block grant programs go further and count the household. Brad's account of it, from the 60+ Programs webinar: "we had a young lady who has a nineteen year old and it's just her and her nineteen year old, but the nineteen year old works at Taco Bell. And even though the nineteen year old is not going to be on the loan, they counted her income as household income. And so that took mom out of the program."
- Tables are revised and bands are reset, so the only current number is the one on the agency's page today. Each entry above links to it.
Who is eligible for the first-time homebuyer grant in Texas?
The word grant has a specific meaning in Texas. TSAHC is the agency offering help in a form that never has to be repaid, through Homes for Texas Heroes and Home Sweet Texas Home. Everything else here is a lien, a loan or a tax credit, however it gets described elsewhere.
The three-year rule, and the two exemptions to it
Most Texas programs use the federal definition of a first-time buyer, and it is broader than the phrase suggests: someone who has not owned and occupied a principal residence during the last three years.
- People who owned a home before a divorce, and people who have been renting since they sold, are frequently back inside the definition without realizing it.
- TDHCA exempts two groups from the first-time rule on My First Texas Home. Qualified veterans honorably discharged with a DD-214, and any buyer whose property sits in a Qualified Targeted Census Tract.
- Three programs skip the rule entirely. My Choice Texas Home, Home Sweet Texas Home and Homes for Texas Heroes are all open to repeat buyers.
The education course is a requirement, not a program
Every state program on this list requires a homebuyer education course. It is the requirement people discover last and regret most.
- TDHCA requires a pre-purchase HUD-certified course, with a certificate of completion for each borrower. Non-occupying co-signers are exempt.
- TSAHC requires an approved course completed before closing, not after.
- It is not always free. Austin's program lists the course at $99, plus the cost of the handbook.
- Most people finish one online in a sitting. Do it before you are under contract, not in the week when everything else is happening at once.
The approved lender list is shorter than people expect
None of these programs is applied for at the agency. Each one is originated by a lender on that program's approved list, and the lists are small.
- Austin publishes its participating lenders by name, and the list runs to single digits.
- Brad's version, from the 60+ Programs webinar: "You have to use an approved lender who's on the shortlist who actually knows how to navigate these programs. And usually there's only like four or five or six on the list."
- This is the practical reason one lender's answer is one lender's list, and not the market's.
What is not on this list, and why?
Brad counts more than sixty programs in Texas. Fourteen are here because fourteen could be checked against the agency that runs them. The rest fall into two groups, and it is worth knowing which is which.
Programs for repairs and access, not for buying
Some widely listed Texas programs are real, useful, and nothing to do with buying a home. Listing them as buyer assistance wastes the reader's time.
- The Amy Young Barrier Removal Program gives one-time grants of up to $22,500 for accessibility modifications and hazard removal, for households with persons with disabilities. It serves tenants and existing homeowners, not buyers. tdhca.texas.gov
- TDHCA also runs reconstruction and homeowner assistance programs aimed at people who already own.
Private, builder and bank programs that no agency publishes
A large part of Brad's count is commercial rather than governmental. That is why those programs cannot be checked against a public page, and why they are not entries here.
- Builders run in-house incentives. Banks run Community Reinvestment Act lending in mapped areas. Some lenders carry programs the agencies never touch.
- These change without notice, vary by lender and by month, and have no equivalent of a program matrix to check. A directory entry for one would be stale before it was useful.
- The honest route for that half of the list is a conversation with someone who tracks them, not a web page that pretends to.
- My Choice Texas Home, the program with no first-time buyer rule
- Texas property taxes and what they do to affordability
- the families Texas assistance programs fall into
- homebuyer assistance programs in other states
- how buying a home in Texas actually works
- questions first-time buyers ask most
- the 2-minute Texas homebuyer quiz
Want this checked against your own situation?
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