SC Housing’s Made It Home! Program aims to involve homebuilders, create solutions to affordable housing deficit

COLUMBIA, SC – The South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority (SC Housing) is offering an innovative approach to solving one of the state’s most important problems: a shortage of single-family housing.

The Made It Home! Program will encourage homebuilders to create affordable single-family homes through a $12,500 cost offset subsidy for each completed and sold home.

The program will feature two tiers of homes, providing homebuilders with flexibility to build either two-bedroom, two-bath homes with at least a 1,000 square foot floor plan, priced at or below $175,000; or three-bedroom, two-bath homes with at least a 1,200 square foot floor plan, priced at or below $200,000.

“South Carolina is in a housing crisis and this is our attempt to take a big swing at finding a solution,” C. Todd Latiff, chairman of the SC Housing Board of Commissioners, said. “We’re talking about people that have never had the opportunity to be homeowners having that chance. We’re talking about creating generational wealth for the South Carolinians that take advantage of this program. This is a big deal for our state.”

The program aims to create up to 130 single-family units over the course of the next year, with applications to the program closing on Sept. 30, 2025. The agency will review applications, and soon after, announce the winning applicants.

Homes will not be available to purchase until after the awards have been announced. 

For more information and how to apply, homebuilders should visit schousing.sc.gov/homebuyers/made-it-home.

Builders must be licensed in South Carolina and demonstrate recent experience, financial capacity, and the ability to market and sell homes that meet the program’s affordability criteria.

“This program is about creating opportunity,” said SC Housing Executive Director Richard Hutto. “We want working families to know that affordable, quality housing is within reach—and that SC Housing is committed to building lasting solutions for our state.”

The lack of affordable single-family housing – considered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as being affordable to individuals with an income of 80 – 120 percent of the area median income – has been spurred by escalating interest rates, continually rising home prices and more than a decade of underbuilding in the state, which began in 2009. The median listing price of a home in the state is $350,000, according to a December 2024 Federal Reserve Bank dashboard report.

South Carolina faces a severe shortage of affordable housing, driven by a growing population, rising housing costs, and insufficient development of cost-effective units. 

Adding to the affordability of the homes, SC Housing will provide eligible homebuyers with $25,000 in forgivable down payment and closing cost assistance through participating lenders.

Homebuyers must occupy the home as their primary residence, obtain a fixed rate mortgage through any of SC Housing’s approved lenders, have annual incomes not exceeding SC Housing’s program current income limits or $135,000 (whichever is less).

Buyers using SC Housing’s SC Homebuyer Bond program for first mortgage financing must meet the first-time homebuyer definition, income limits by county and all other program requirements.

Key Dates:

• Builder Applications Open: Aug. 22, 2025
• Deadline to submit questions: September 5, 2025
• Answer to questions to be posted to SC Housing’s website: September 12, 2025
• Builder Applications Deadline: SC Housing must be in receipt of the application by 3:00 p.m. Eastern time, Sept. 30, 2025
• Application Review begins: October 1, 2025
• Program Award Announcements: No later than Oct. 30, 2025

Applications must be submitted in PDF format via SC Housing’s secure ShareBase upload system or on a thumb drive delivered to SC Housing’s offices. 

Media Contact: Matthew McColl
Marketing and Public Information Director
matthew.mccoll@schousing.com
803-896-9520

SC Housing is a self-sustaining housing finance agency committed to ensuring that South Carolinians have the opportunity to live in safe, decent and affordable housing. Agency operations are supported by a funding base that includes fees and other revenue earned through the administration of agency programs. For more information, visit SCHousing.sc.gov.