federal fiscal year 2026 priorities

Shared with our elected representatives include the following:

• Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP): is the only HUD grant program that provides funding exclusively for homeownership projects serving low-income families. Requested support of $20 million for FY 2026.

• HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME): provides formula grants to states and localities that communities use in partnership with local nonprofit groups, including Habitat affiliates, to fund a wide range of affordable housing activities, such as: Repair and rehabilitate housing, reconstruct owner-occupied housing, fund new construction, demolition, and land acquisition, and offer downpayment assistance to homebuyers. Habitat supports the HOME Coalition’s request of increasing funding for the HOME program to at least $1.5 billion in FY2026.

• Section 502 Single-Family Housing Direct Loan Program: eligible families apply for and receive a direct subsidized, low-interest loan from USDA Rural Development for their Habitat home. The loan funds may be used to build, renovate or relocate a home in a rural area. Loan funds can also be used to finance the purchase and preparation of sites, including providing water and wastewater facilities.

• Homeownership Supply Accelerator: Habitat has developed this concept to most effectively increase starter home supply. As envisioned, the accelerator would be a new source of financial assistance to support property acquisition, new home construction and rehabilitation and other financial barriers faced by homeownership providers serving modest-income homebuyers. There is currently no federal program exclusively focused on financing these activities for homeownership.

• Tax Packages to Increase “Starter Homes”: Make permanent or extend the New Markets Tax Credit program which is set to expire at the end of this year (2025), and Include the bipartisan Neighborhood Homes Investment Act introduced by Senators Young (R-IN) and Warner (D-VA) and Representatives Kelly (R-PA-16) and Larson (DCT-1), which would use federal tax credits to mobilize private investment to build and substantially rehabilitate homes for low-and moderate-income homeowners.