DeKalb's New HomeStart Program Could Put $20,000 Toward Your Down Payment

DeKalb County's Board of Commissioners approved a $155 million Housing Investment Bond Program on July 14, and the piece of it buyers will actually feel is DeKalb HomeStart -- a down payment assistance program that could put up to $20,000 toward a down payment, closing costs or an interest-rate buy-down for a first-time buyer, and up to $25,000 for a qualifying DeKalb County employee. The money comes as a 0% second mortgage with no monthly payment, and it's forgiven entirely once you've lived in the home as your primary residence for 10 years.

The program splits into two tiers by income. A household earning at or below 100% of the Atlanta area's median income qualifies for the full $20,000; a household between 100% and 120% of AMI qualifies for up to $15,000. Those income limits scale with household size the way HUD limits always do, so the number that matters is your own household: the 2026 area median for a four-person household is $117,800, and for a single applicant the 100%-AMI cutoff works out to roughly $82,500. A two- or three-person household lands in between. It is worth checking your own number rather than assuming you're priced out based on a headline figure.

What DeKalb hasn't published yet is a maximum home purchase price for the program, or the full list of participating lenders -- the county says it will not restrict which lender you use, subject to its own review to screen out predatory loan terms. Applications are expected to open this fall; an interest form is live now through the county's housing office so you can get in the queue before the formal application window. If a number for a purchase-price cap gets published between now and then, that's worth a follow-up post of its own.

This sits inside a larger effort: the $155 million bond is meant to leverage more than $1.2 billion in public and private investment and create or preserve upwards of 10,000 housing units by 2032, with $12 million budgeted for 2026 and $15 million a year after that. HomeStart is the down-payment piece; a separate owner-occupied rehabilitation program offers up to $30,000 for repairs, combinable with an existing county repair program for up to $44,000 total, aimed at seniors, veterans and disabled homeowners trying to stay in place.

For a buyer, the practical read is this: if you've been waiting on a down payment to make DeKalb work, this is a real, funded program, not a talking point, and getting your name on the interest list now costs nothing. For a seller or an agent working DeKalb listings, it's a reason buyers who looked priced out earlier this year might be back in the market by winter, particularly in the price ranges where a $15,000-20,000 gap is the difference between renting another year and closing.

If this is you, the concrete next step is the interest form through DeKalb County's housing office -- not a lender, not a real estate site, the county directly -- so you're in line before the fall application window opens, and you have real numbers in hand before you start touring houses.