HomeFirst Down Payment Assistance Program Enhancement Expands Income Eligibility to Reach More New Yorkers, Partners With New Provider to Expedite Services
First Announced in Mayor Adams’ Fourth State of the City Address, Today’s Enhancement Builds on Administration’s Commitment to Supporting Homeownership
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. today announced the expansion of the HomeFirst Down Payment Assistance Program, which provides qualified first-time homebuyers with up to $100,000 toward the down payment or closing costs on a one-to-four family home, a condominium, or a co-op in the five boroughs. The expansion adds $41 million in new funding over the next five fiscal years — doubling the city’s investment to $82 million — broadens income eligibility, and adds a new nonprofit partner to expedite programmatic support. First announced in Mayor Adams’ fourth State of the City address earlier this month, HomeFirst’s expansion fulfills another commitment by Mayor Adams to make New York City more affordable and the best place to raise a family. To learn more about HomeFirst, New Yorkers can visit HPD's HomeFirst webpage.
“To continue to be the best place to raise a family, our administration is putting the quintessential American Dream — owning a home — within reach for 1,000 more New York City households over the next five years,” said Mayor Adams. “For those families who need help closing a deal or putting down that down payment, our administration is here to the help. For the last decade, HomeFirst has been a powerful tool in providing New Yorkers with the resources to become homeowners. Today, we’re doubling down on our commitment, reaching more families, and increasing services. There’s no greater feeling than being handed the keys to a place you can call home. Thanks to today’s investment, more families will be even closer to making the dream of homeownership a reality.”
“Over the past few years, HomeFirst has proven to be a powerful tool, opening the door to homeownership for families who dreamt it, but never thought it possible. Expanding this program not only speaks to its success, but also addresses the growing demand for real, affordable homeownership options and the need to speed up the process for families ready to take the next step,” said HPD Commissioner Carrión Jr. “As someone who grew up in a family that transitioned from public housing to owning a home, I understand that homeownership isn’t just about holding a deed — it’s about securing stability, building economic opportunity, and giving families a reason to stay and invest in New York City.”
HomeFirst has been a proven success in bringing the dream of homeownership closer to reality for New Yorkers. Over the past decade, HomeFirst has helped more than 1,100 New Yorkers on their path towards homeownership. Today’s expansion of HomeFirst doubles the program’s funding to $82 million to reach 1,000 households over the next five years. The program will now accept applications from individuals and families earning up to 120 percent of the area median income (AMI), expanding eligibility beyond the prior limit of 80 percent of AMI. HPD will continue to contract with Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City to qualify interested homeowners and will also now contract with the Center for New York City Neighborhoods to expand capacity and serve more first-time homebuyers.
Mayor Adams had made historic investments toward creating affordable housing over the last three years and ensuring more New Yorkers have a place to call home. In June 2024, City Hall and the City Council agreed on an on-time, balanced, and fiscally-responsible $112.4 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Adopted Budget that invested $2 billion in capital funds across FY25 and FY26 to HPD and the New York City Housing Authority’s capital budgets. In total, the Adams administration has committed $24.5 billion in housing capital in the current 10-year plan as the city faces a generational housing crisis. In July 2024, Mayor Adams announced back-to-back record breaking years in both creating and connecting New Yorkers to affordable housing. This past spring, the city celebrated the largest 100 percent affordable housing project in 40 years with the Willets Point transformation.
Further, the Adams administration is using every tool available to address the city’s housing crisis. Mayor Adams announced multiple new tools, including a $4 million state grant, to help New York City homeowners create accessory dwelling units that will not only help them to afford to remain in the communities they call home, but also to build generational wealth for their families.
Mayor Adams and members of his administration also successfully advocated for new tools in the 2024 New York state budget that will spur the creation of urgently needed housing. These tools include a new tax incentive for multifamily rental construction, a tax incentive program to encourage office conversions to create more affordable units, lifting the arbitrary “floor-to-area ratio” cap that held back affordable housing production in certain high-demand areas of the city, and the ability to create a pilot program to legalize and make safe basement apartments.
Additionally, under Mayor Adams’ leadership, the city is fulfilling its 2024 State of the City commitment to build more affordable housing, including creating the Tenant Protection Cabinet to coordinate across agencies to better serve tenants. The city has also taken several steps to cut red tape and speed up the delivery of much-needed housing, including through the “Green Fast Track for Housing,” a streamlined environmental review process for qualifying small- and medium-sized housing projects; the “Office Conversion Accelerator,” an interagency effort to guide buildings that wish to convert through city bureaucracy; and other initiatives of the Building and Land Use Approval Streamlining Taskforce.
