USDA Section 504 Home Repair Grant Checker
Up to $10,000 to remove health and safety hazards from your home, never repaid if you stay 3 years — plus a 1% loan option up to $40,000. Built specifically for rural homeowners 62 and older, and one of the least-known programs on this site.
The USDA Section 504 program offers grants up to $10,000 (never repaid if you stay in the home 3+ years) to homeowners 62 or older who can't repay a loan, to remove health and safety hazards or add accessibility features. It also offers loans up to $40,000 at 1% interest over 20 years, open to eligible homeowners of any age, for broader repairs and improvements. Both require: owning and living in the home, the home being in a USDA-eligible rural area, and household income below 50% of your county's area median income. Combined, loan and grant can total up to $50,000.
This is one of the most under-claimed programs for rural senior homeowners — it doesn't get the attention Section 8 or property tax relief gets, but for someone who owns their home outright and just can't afford a new roof or a wheelchair ramp, it can be exactly the right fit. Answer the questions below to see where you likely stand.
Check Your Eligibility
Section 504 is actually two connected programs sharing the same application: a loan program open to very-low-income homeowners of any age, and a grant program layered on top specifically for those 62 or older who genuinely can't repay a loan. The loan terms are hard to beat anywhere else — 1% fixed interest over 20 years — and if you can repay part of the cost, USDA can combine a partial loan with a partial grant rather than an all-or-nothing decision. The grant itself isn't free money with no strings: if you sell the home within 3 years of receiving it, the grant amount is generally recaptured from the sale proceeds. After 3 years, it's yours free and clear.
Two eligibility pieces are genuinely address-specific and can't be answered with a general rule: whether your home sits in a USDA-eligible rural area, and your county's exact 50%-of-area-median-income limit. Both are determined by official USDA lookup tools, not a population cutoff or a state-wide number — a surprising number of areas that feel more suburban than rural actually qualify, and county income limits can vary by tens of thousands of dollars depending on local housing costs. Check both directly before assuming you're out of range.
What the grant portion can actually pay for is narrower than the loan: it's specifically for removing health and safety hazards (things like a failing roof, unsafe electrical wiring, no functioning heat) or making the home accessible for a household member with a disability (ramps, grab bars, widened doorways). A kitchen remodel or a cosmetic upgrade wouldn't qualify for the grant, though the loan portion covers a broader range of repairs, improvements, and modernization.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the USDA Section 504 Home Repair Program?
A USDA Rural Development program offering loans and grants to very low-income homeowners in eligible rural areas to repair, improve, or modernize their homes, or to remove health and safety hazards. Grants (up to $10,000, not repaid if you stay 3+ years) are reserved for homeowners 62 or older who can't repay a loan; loans (up to $40,000 at 1% interest over 20 years) are open to eligible homeowners of any age.
What counts as a "rural area" for this program?
USDA defines eligible rural areas by specific address, not just by county or population in general terms, and boundaries are periodically updated. Some areas that feel suburban still qualify. Check your exact address on USDA's official Property Eligibility map rather than guessing based on general location.
What income limit applies?
Both the loan and grant require "very low income," defined as household income below 50% of the area median income (AMI) for your county. AMI varies significantly by county, so there's no single national dollar figure — check your exact county limit on USDA's official Single Family Housing Income Eligibility tool.
What repairs does the grant actually cover?
Grants are restricted to removing health and safety hazards or making a home accessible for a household member with a disability — not general home improvement or cosmetic upgrades. The loan portion has broader allowed uses, covering repairs, improvements, and modernization more generally.
Do I have to pay the grant back?
Not if you stay in the home at least 3 years after receiving it. If the property is sold before then, the grant is generally recaptured (repaid) from the sale proceeds.
Uses the current national program terms ($10,000 lifetime grant cap, $40,000 loan cap, $50,000 combined maximum, 1% loan interest over 20 years, 62+ grant age requirement, 50%-of-AMI "very low income" definition, 3-year grant recapture period) as confirmed across multiple current sources including the National Council on Aging. Rural-area and county income-limit determinations are address-specific and not calculated here — use USDA's official Property Eligibility and Income Eligibility tools linked above. A bill in Congress has proposed doubling both the grant and loan caps, but as of this writing that has not been enacted — current limits remain in effect. This is a general educational starting point, not a USDA determination — apply through your local USDA Rural Development office for an official decision.