Miami-Dade, Florida's Economic Advocacy Trust (MDEAT) launched a new initiative intended to provide residents access to "affordable homeownership" through a lottery process.
The "Welcome H.O.M.E.," or Housing Opportunities Made for Everyone, program is a partnership with JL Brown Development Corp., and will "offer eligible applicants the opportunity to purchase newly constructed homes," according to a press release by the county.
The program's information page says that three homes are available via the lottery — though MDEAT may provide down payment assistance, the homes are "not free," and applicants must qualify for financing themselves. However, those that are selected "may be eligible for up to $150,000 in homebuyer assistance," according
to MDEAT, "subject to the availability of funds."
Homebuying in Miami-Dade County can be an exorbitantly expensive undertaking — according to Realtor.com, the median listing price for homes in the county was $588,700 as of August, while the median listing price in Florida at large was $419,000.
Eligible applicants include individuals or households earning up to 140% of the area median income, said the program's information page. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, median family income for the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metro fair market rent area was $89,800 in 2026.
The lottery process itself is randomized, according to the program's information page, and applicants "will be ranked from one to 10." The "top six" applicants will have 60 days to qualify to purchase one of the homes, and if any of the top three can't qualify within the allotted time, "the next applicant on the list will be contacted."
Are applications for the Florida housing lottery program in Miami-Dade still open?
Applications for the program opened Sept. 1 and the website for the initiative stated they would close when "200 qualified applications" were received, or by Sept. 30. When clicking on the link to apply, a message appears, stating that "applications for the Welcome H.O.M.E. Program are officially closed," already.
“For too long, the opportunity to build wealth through homeownership has been out of reach for many Miami-Dade families,” Bill Diggs, Executive Director of MDEAT said in the press release, adding that the program was intended to provide residents with a "pathway to ownership."
Applicants must use the home as their primary residence, according to MDEAT.
How expensive are homes in Miami-Dade County, Florida?
Homebuying in Miami-Dade County can be expensive. Realtor.com has the August median listing price for homes at $588,700, while the median listing price in Florida at large was $419,000. July's median list price for a home in the United States was about $430,000.
According to this year's Housing Mismatch Report, released in May, the Miami metro area also has a significant shortage of affordable listings for many of those looking to buy homes. The report was produced as a collaborative effort between Realtor.com and the National Association of Realtors.
The report tracks "listing-income alignment" scores, which show how "well the current distribution of home listings matches the distribution of household incomes in a given market." Essentially, "if a household at every income level tried to buy a home today, would they find listings proportional to their share of the local population?"
A score of 100%, for instance, means that listings are well-distributed across all income tiers, while a score of 75% would mean that, on average, households have access to 75% of what a "balanced market would offer them."
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area had a significant shortage of affordable housing for all incomes in March of 2026, according to the report, with a score of 67%. It's an improvement over the area's score in March of 2019, which was 64.1%.
Significant shortages are common in "fast-growth Sun Belt metros," according to the report.
Nationally, "middle-income households" faced the largest supply gap. Buyers that earn about $75,000 can afford homes priced up to about $261,140, according to the report, but homes priced below that point only account for about 23% of national listings. In a balanced market, 44% would be priced below that point.
Sarah Perkel is a South Florida Connect Reporter for the USA TODAY Network's Florida Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida county launches down payment lottery for 3 homes. How it works
