Polk County Lenders

UPDATE:

As of August 22, 2025, the City of Lakeland downpayment assistance program will be TEMPORARILY CLOSED for new submissions until Friday, September 19, 2025 while the City of Lakeland updates their policies and procedures to better serve participants. The Polk County downpayment program will remain open, yet will not fund properties in the city limits of Lakeland.

Please continue to use this email, Leisha@cflhands.org for communication on in-process files with HANDS. Michele Alamo and Jill McReynolds are currently reviewing all files and prefer email versus telephone FILE communication. Please first go to the GAP MANUAL on the POLK COUNTY LENDERS Tab of www.cflhands.org for program questions. As of Thursday, July 24th, all Registrations for funding must be accompanied by the full checklist packet of documents (page 2 of the Registration) in order for funding to be reserved. If an Appraisal is ordered, this one item may be noted as an exception until the Appraisal is completed. This will help our timely processing! Thank you for your patience!

Residency Requirements for Polk County: Buyers must have established residency in Polk County over the last 12 months. Additionally, a buyer who does not meet the minimum residency requirement, but currently works within Polk County, is eligible for program assistance.

HANDS of Central Florida, Inc. provides financial assistance to very low, low or moderate income households purchasing homes to be occupied as their primary residence. We administer State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program funds for Polk County and the City of Lakeland. (HANDS no longer administers downpayment assistance for the City of Winter Haven.) SHIP funds provide down payment and closing cost assistance to eligible homebuyers who have secured first mortgage financing. HANDS’ programs are HUD acceptable to provide secondary financing for FHA insured and Conventional mortgage loans. GAP program down payment assistance varies depending on the income level of the buyer and the local government assistance program guidelines. Down payment and closing cost assistance is secured by a soft second mortgage.

Down Payment Assistance Availability

City of Lakeland (inside the city limits): TEMPORARILY CLOSED for new submissions until Friday, September 19, 2025 while the City of Lakeland updates their policies and procedures to better serve participants. The only funding available for the City of Lakeland at this time is low-income city wide and moderate income in the Midtown CRA District.
Unincorporated Polk County: Funding available for Moderate, Low, and Very-Low income households
City of Winter Haven (inside the city limits): HANDS of Central Florida, Inc. is no longer administering this program for the City of Winter Haven. Please contact Cedric Cox @ (863) 274-8658 or ccox@mywinterhaven.com

Please review the GAP MANUAL for complete program details. Registration form can be found below (Downloads).

Downloads:

GAP MANUAL
SHIP LENDER REGISTRATION FORM (Please complete checklist Page 2 of the Registration by providing all the supporting documents WITH your Registration form. The appraisal if ordered and not yet available, may be noted as such, and submitted when completed.) Please also make certain that the accompanying Sales Contract is due to close a minimum of 21 - 120 days from the Registration submittal to HANDS. Average downpayment funding approvals in peak periods take 60-70 days.