Columbia, South Carolina – SC Housing is helping people who work in public service in South Carolina, like teachers, nurses, police officers, and military personnel, buy their own homes through a special program called the 2024 Palmetto Heroes Program. Starting on April 15, SC Housing is offering up to $12,000 to help with the down payment and loans with competitive rates. This program is designed to support South Carolina’s public service heroes, people who play a major part in keeping South Carolina’s communities safe.
To be eligible, those interested have to be buying their home for the first time through SC Housing and qualify for their program. The $12,000 to help with the down payment doesn’t have to be paid back. But those interested in the program are required to act quickly because the offer is only available on a first-come, first-served basis. The initiative requires an executed sales contract on a home. The interest rates for the loans will be shared on April 15.
Steve Clements, the director of SC Housing’s single-family programs, said that owning a home through the Palmetto Heroes Program is a great way for these community heroes to build wealth over time for themselves and their families.
“This is a powerful tool for South Carolinians to help create the generational wealth that only homeownership can,” said Clements in a press release. “We’re proud to be able to offer something as unique and impactful as the Palmetto Heroes Program. This program gives the people serving South Carolina a great opportunity to build wealth and achieve the dream of homeownership.”
SC Housing offers 30-year mortgage loans with the help of more than 100 lenders across the state. These loans are for people buying a home for the first time and who earn within certain limits. This opportunity isn’t for refinancing an existing home but for new homeowners. Due to its popularity, the spots for these loans usually get taken quickly, often in just a few months. The program offers an answer to one of the state’s most pressing issues: the near impossibility of homeownership for middle-class South Carolinians.
A study done in 2023 by SC Housing and the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business found that the number of homes being sold in South Carolina for under $100,000 has been going down by 14.8% every year since 2014. With prices of houses going up and interest rates getting higher, the help that SC Housing offers, like money towards the down payment, is becoming crucial. The program provides a path to homeownership for South Carolina’s citizens with low-to-moderate income.
For more details, visit schousing.com or contact SC Housing at 803.896.2211.
