Welcome Home Ohio Residential Program
About the Program
Fiscal Year 26-27 Program Guidelines
The Welcome Home Ohio (WHO) program was created to award grants for the purchase of qualifying residential properties at foreclosure sales, the cost of construction or rehabilitation, or a nonrefundable tax credit for qualifying activities.
Each grant program offering will be funded at $22,812,500 in each fiscal year and $20 million in tax credits through the biennium. This opportunity has the potential to fund the incorporation of 1,134 affordable, owner-occupied homes across the state of Ohio. The fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30, the following calendar year.
Eligible Program Activities
Welcome Home Ohio – Purchasing (WHO-P)
- Grant funds to pay the cost of purchasing qualifying residential property at foreclosure sales after July 1, 2025.
- A maximum grant of $100,000 per residential property at foreclosure sales.
Welcome Home Ohio – Rehabilitation/Construction (WHO-RC)
- Grant funds to assist in the cost of rehabilitation or construction of qualifying residential property.
- A maximum grant of $100,000 per qualifying residential property.
Welcome Home Ohio – Tax Credits (WHO-TC)
- Tax credit is allocated once the qualifying residential property is sold to a qualifying individual.
- Maximum of $90,000 or 90% of the cost of rehab/construction, whichever is less.
- State or federal grant funds are subtracted from the cost of rehab/construction prior to calculating the tax credit amount.
- If the director of the Ohio Department of Development determines the applicant qualifies for a tax credit, a tax credit certificate will be issued to the applicant identified with a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and listing the amount of credit that is eligible to be transferred or claimed on income and financial institutional taxes.
- Certification of occupancy must be signed within the most recent fiscal year. For example, a home sold in fiscal year 2025 could be submitted for a tax credit in fiscal year 2026, but not a home sold in fiscal year 2024.
- Tax credits shall be issued up to June 30, 2027.
WHO-Purchase (WHO-P) grant funds shall only be used to pay the cost of purchasing qualifying residential property at foreclosure sales. WHO-Rehabilitation or New Construction (WHO-RC) grant funds shall only be used to pay the cost of rehabilitation or construction of qualifying residential property. WHO funded projects can be leveraged with other funding sources such as other residential rehab/construction grants. Up to $2,000 of each grant award may be used to fund the qualifying financial literacy counseling requirement; however, grant funds are not available for any other administrative function.
WHO-TC credit is allocated once the qualifying residential property is sold to a qualifying individual.
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