Have you heard about the two new programs at Virginia Housing that are help making homeownership a reality for more Virginians? Learn about FirstHome Dream and the upcoming Community Heroes Grant today!  

FirstHome Dream 

FirstHome Dream is a program developed to support first-time, first-generation home buyers. Rather than a stand-alone program, this program is layered on top of Virginia Housing existing programs to substantially reduce the interest rate for qualified borrowers. First-generation is defined as: 

• Borrowers and co-borrowers who have never owned a home of any kind, 

• The spouse of the borrower has never owned a home (even if not a borrower), and 

• The borrowers’ parents have not owned a home in the last three years.  

This program supports borrowers who have not been afforded the opportunity to build generational wealth through homeownership. Approved Virginia Housing lenders can access this program through a sponsor network that includes sponsors located throughout the commonwealth. 

Virginia Housing Community Heroes Grant 

The Virginia Housing Community Heroes Grant (which is currently in development) is a grant program to support community heroes—which includes first responders, law enforcement, healthcare workers, educators, and military service members—to achieve the dream of homeownership.   

Community heroes are often challenged with achieving homeownership in the communities they serve. This is primarily due to the cost of housing and other financial barriers, such as down payment and closing costs. The Virginia Housing Community Heroes Grant aims to support eligible borrowers on their path to homeownership in the communities they serve.  

This program will offer a $10,000 grant for eligible borrowers to assist with down payment and closing costs. This grant can be layered with other grant programs available from Virginia Housing, provided the borrower meets eligibility criteria. The Community Heroes Grant is projected to launch in late 2025, and more information will be available soon. Click here to sign up for partner updates, and stay tuned!   

For more information about these housing grants and more, visit the Virginia Housing website or contact Grants@VirginiaHousing.com.