Are you thinking of buying your first home in Illinois? Would you like a free gift of money to help you purchase that first home? If you answered yes to these two questions, there is great news for you. The state of Illinois provides free grant money for its residents and need help with the down payment and closing costs. This money comes in the form of state grants. This is free money that shouldn’t be passed up! The grant awards can be in the thousands of dollars. It will be well worth your time to educate yourself about the grant programs that the State of Illinois provides.
Illinois Grants
The agency in Illinois that provides assistance to the home buyers is The Illinois Housing Development Authority. There is currently one grant program available, depending upon your income. Low-income families can receive a grant of up to $3,000 to help with down payment and closing costs, and very low-income families can receive a grant of up to $5,000. To find out if you qualify, please visit the Illinois Housing Development Authority website page specifically describing this very helpful resource. You can simply go to this website to get the specific details and requirements.
IHDA allocates funds to a network of partners across the state to administer a number of programs to help Illinois first-time home buyers attain homeownership affordably. Homebuyers can receive:
Down payment and closing cost assistance
Down payment, closing costs with funds to rehabilitate their new home; and
Subordinate loans
Funding for this assistance comes from two resources:
– HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME)
– Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund program
The contact info for IHDA is:
Illinois Housing Development Authority
401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 700
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: (312) 836-5200
TDD: (312) 836-5222
Federal Grants
Besides the state programs, there are federal funds and grants available for the home buyers in Illinois through the Homes and Communities program of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. On their website you’ll find complete grant information, application forms, description of available funds, as well as many other helpful tools.
Every potential home buyer should investigate what they have to offer. You can visit the website by going here: US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. Also, there is a website that has a complete list of all grant programs available through the United States Federal Government: Grants.gov. First time home buyers should plan to spend the required time investigating to determine how many individual grants they may qualify for. You can visit the website by going to Grants.gov and use their easy search function to find more information about the programs.
Other Grants
In addition to the grant programs described above, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides home buyer assistance and grants in every state. There are multiple grant programs designed specifically for people that meet certain requirements, such as grants for people with disabilities so they can continue to live independently at home. It is worth visiting HUD’s website to see what assistance is currently available. For your convenience, simply go to this website.
Here is the contact information for the HUD office in Illinois:
Chicago Regional Office
Ralph Metcalfe Federal Building
77 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60604-3507
Phone: (312) 353-5680
Fax: (312) 913-8293
There are also these local home buyer programs:
Alton Homeownership Program (HOP) (618) 463-3801
Cook County Homebuyers Program (HBP) (312) 603-1062
Dekalb First-Home Program (815) 748-2060
East St. Louis CDBG Operations Corporation HOME Investment Partnership Program (HIPP) (618) 482-6635
Madison County HOMEbuyer Program (HBP) (618) 692-8940
Springfield Home Ownership Assistance (HOA) (217) 789-2408
St Clair County Homebuyer Assistance Program (HAP) (618) 277-6790
