Living became very expensive through out the world and in American in the last three decades. At the end of the real estate run we had a bubble burst. This bubble created many financial problems for citizens. It is hard to find affordable apartments as more and more people want to rent. This drove the rent amounts up leaving low income families priced out of places to live.

The federal government seeing the problem stepped in with many housing grants for Americans. Citizens can receive help with rental unites, assistance to build their new houses, renovate existing once, and invest in real estate using free government money. These funds do not have to be repaid. In order to be able to buy, or build a piece of real estate good credit history may be required from the applicants. The programs cover the following ventures: home and real estate investment funding, first time home buyers, home repair, mobile homes, rental projects, commercial property, apartment buildings, land development, new construction, and more. All this was made possible with the help of housing grants.

Let’s look at some of the assistance programs.

Rehabilitation Grants

Rehabilitation assistance provides money to those who want to fix damaged properties. Very often foreclosed properties are damaged to the point that no one want to buy them and live there. You can step in and team up with the federal government on the rehab project. The government will provide housing grants for your rehabilitation project. You buy the property for less than market value, fix it using government money and you end up with a great house for less.

Real Estate Investment Grants

Real estate investors can receive free housing grants for their real estate projects. When the real estate project can provide affordable housing, or is simply build in a rural area the government will help you invest by providing free government money for the investment.

Veteran Housing Grants

War veterans are covered under many federal programs. Beside many different types of federal grants, housing grants are one of the opportunities for veterans. Veterans must go through Grants Management Center in order to register and apply for these opportunities.

Rural Housing Grants

Federal aid offers rural home assistance. The fact you live or plan to start your next real estate project in a rural area will make you eligible to apply for this type of assistance.

Home Assistance

Home grants are given mostly to first time home buyers. This very program helps applicants to come up with down payment money. Families with low income can apply to the HUD based American Dream Down Payment Initiative program. This great opportunity will help you with your down payment. It offers over $210 million dollars in down payment money and the funds are available to first time buyers only. Very often they are focused on revitalizing neighborhoods.

HUD Grants

The Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is a US department that helps American communities. Low income families, the elderly, homeless, people with disabilities, and with AIDS can receive HUD assistance. These programs do not offer to cover the full cost of a new house, but rather portion of the total cost. This portion of the money will help you pay down the mortgage. Applicants must qualify for a mortgage in order to be eligible for this assistance.

Rental Assistance

This program targets single parents, women, low income families, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Families with low income can receive rental assistance where major portion or full rent is paid by the federal or state government. Housing grants could include rental utilities as well.

Single mothers qualify for this program. The money does not have to be repaid back. Proof of low income is a must and families with financial assets do not qualify. One of the most common rental program that helps families make homes affordable is called Section 8.

Section 8 specializes in making living more affordable. This is the program you have to apply to if you are one of the low income families. The program pays the money directly to the rental unit owner and the entire process is automatic. Some section 8 programs validate the apartment safely annually and make sure everything is up to code for the tenants.

Housing grants do not have to be repaid and individuals can receive somewhere from $500 to $5,000,000 in free government money towards their real estate venture. If your profession revolves around real estate it is wise to keep checking what the federal government has to offer in this field. In case you have nothing to do with real estate, but rather you are looking for affordable homes these housing grants are great at providing affordable housing.