Are you thinking of buying your first home in Mississippi? 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 Mississippi provides free grant money for its residents who are buying a home first time and need help with the down payment and closing costs. This money comes in the form of state grants that range in size up to $14,999.00. This is free money that shouldn’t be passed up! It will be well worth your time to educate yourself about various grant programs that the State of Mississippi provides.
Mississippi Grants
The agency in Mississippi that provides assistance to the home buyers is The Mississippi Home Corporation. There is currently only one such grant program available: Down Payment Assistance Program. To find out more about this program, please visit the Mississippi Home Corporation website. To navigate directly there, simply visit this website.
The Mississippi Development Authority(MDA), Community Services Division will provide Mississippi Home Corporation (MHC) HOME funds to provide grants up to $14,999 to qualified low income individuals to purchase homes.
Important Facts
Property must meet local housing quality standards in areas with local building codes or written clearance from either a licensed Home Inspector or US HUD approved appraiser, that the property meets Section 8 Housing Quality Standards.
May be used with FHA, VA, USDA-RHS, Rural Development Direct or Guaranteed loans, Habitat for Humanity loans and approved Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac 30-year conventional loans with Private Mortgage Insurance.
The City of Jackson, City of Hattiesburg and ALL of Harrison County, are not eligible.
May be used with the following MHC programs: Mortgage Revenue Bond with no cash advance (MRB), Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC)
To contact the Mississippi Development Authority, here is the info:
MHC
735 Riverside Drive
Jackson, MS 39202
Phone: (601)718-4636
Switchboard Operator: (601)718-4642
Fax: (601)718-4643
Federal Grants
Besides the state programs, there are federal funds and grants available to the home buyers in Mississippi 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 using the search tool to see what information and details are available.
Other Grants in Mississippi
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 here.
Here is the contact information for the HUD office in Mississippi:
Jackson Field Office
Dr. A. H. McCoy Federal Building
100 West Capitol Street
Room 910
Jackson, MS 39269-1096
Phone: (601) 965-4757
Fax: (601) 965-4773
There are also these local programs:
Biloxi & Gulfport Gulf Coast Community Action Agency Inc HOME Grant (HG) (228) 896-1409
Biloxi PRIDE Homeownership Program (PRIDE) (228) 435-6280
MS Home Corporation. MHC administers 2 grant programs on behalf of the Dept. of Education and MS Development Authority. They are the Housing Assistance For Teachers (HAT). Up to a $6,000 Grant if they teach for a period of 3 years in a critical shortage public school district.
The other program is the household with someone that is permanently disabled. It’s called Home of Your Own (HOYO). This a grant of up to $15,000 depending upon household income. MHC offers other programs for first-time buyers. Most are in the form of a second mortgage (3% of the loan amount, 10-year fixed rate) and then one program that offers a 3% Cash Advance and that is with the Mortgage Revenue Bond Program. (601) 718-4626
Newton First-Time Homebuyer Grant Program (GRANT) (601) 683-6181
