The programs that help people buy and rent a home, who runs each one, and how to reach them. Federal programs apply in every state; the Nevada and Clark County half is called out where it differs.
Kouzr does not run, fund or process any of these programs, and nothing here is legal, benefits or financial advice. Eligibility is decided by the agency that administers the program, and the figures behind every one of them (income limits, funding, waiting lists) change at least annually, so the agency's own page is the only current source. A HUD-approved housing counselor will go through any of it with you at no charge. See also our note on grant scams.
If you do not know where to start
Most people arrive at this subject knowing they need help and not knowing what to ask for, and the honest first step is not a program at all. It is a phone call to somebody whose job is to work out which programs your household actually fits. That service exists, it is free, and it is federally funded precisely because the alternative is people paying a stranger for a form they could have filed themselves.
The four below are the triage layer. Everything after them is easier once one of these has told you which lane you are in.
Free help working out what you qualify for
Federal · Free advice
HUD-approved housing counseling
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Free one-on-one counseling on buying, renting, falling behind on a payment and repairing credit, from an agency HUD has approved and funded to give it.
Who it is for: Anyone. There is no income test to be counseled, and an agency that asks you to pay for the counseling itself is not one of these.
In Nevada: Several approved agencies operate in the Las Vegas valley. The search takes a ZIP code and returns the ones nearest, with what each is approved to advise on.
A referral line and directory covering rent and utility help, food, and emergency housing, staffed locally and answering by phone or online.
Who it is for: Anyone in immediate difficulty, including people who do not qualify for a federal program and need the local charity or county fund instead.
The programs sort by household rather than by house, so the pages below are split the same way. Several people belong on more than one: a disabled veteran has a stronger claim through the VA than through anything on the general disability page, and an older homeowner deciding whether to stay put will find the repair money on the seniors page rather than the buying page. Read the one that fits, then check its neighbors.
The VA loan benefit, adaptation grants, and the state officers who file for free.
What a real program never does
This subject attracts more fraud than any other part of home buying, because the people searching it are under financial pressure and the programs really do exist, so a convincing lie only has to sound like the truth. Every genuine program on this site is run by a government body or a named nonprofit, and all of them behave the same way.
They do not charge you to apply. Filing for a voucher, a VA benefit, a USDA loan or a state down payment program is free. A fee to prepare or submit a government application buys you nothing you could not do yourself, and a HUD-approved counselor will do it with you at no charge.
They do not call, text or message you first. Housing agencies write. An unsolicited call announcing that you have been approved for a housing grant is not a housing agency, whatever the caller ID says.
They do not guarantee approval. Eligibility is decided by a caseworker against published rules, after an application. Nobody can promise the outcome in advance, and anybody who does is selling something else.
They do not ask to be paid in gift cards, wire transfers or cryptocurrency. No government office has ever asked for any of those, for anything.
They do not need your bank login. A program may ask for statements you provide yourself. None of them needs the password to the account.
The tell that catches most of them is the fee. If a page or a caller wants money before anything has happened, close it and go to hud.gov/findacounselor instead.
In Clark County
Kouzr covers the Las Vegas valley, so the local half of each page names the body that actually administers the federal program here. In short: the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority runs vouchers and public housing for much of the valley and posts its waiting list openings as public notices; Home Is Possible is the state buying program, reached through a participating lender rather than from the state directly; and Clark County Social Service is the emergency lane for rent and utilities rather than a waiting list.
One local point worth knowing before you apply anywhere: the Las Vegas valley is three jurisdictions, and they run separate programs. An address can be in the City of Las Vegas, in Henderson, in North Las Vegas or in unincorporated Clark County, and the county is larger than most people assume. Check which one an address is in before applying to a city program it is not in.
The valley also sits outside USDA's eligible rural area, so the USDA loans on these pages are for buyers looking at the rest of Nevada rather than at the metro.
Questions people ask
Where do I start if I do not know what I qualify for?
A HUD-approved housing counseling agency, which is free. HUD approves and funds these agencies to advise on buying, renting, falling behind and credit, and there is no income test to be counseled. They will tell you which programs your household actually fits, which is a question no web page can answer, and they have no product to sell you.
Do first-time home buyer grants really exist, or is that a scam?
Both are true, which is what makes it confusing. Real down payment assistance exists and is run by state housing finance agencies, counties and cities. It is reached through a participating lender or the agency itself, it never requires a fee to apply, and nobody will phone you about it. Anyone charging to fill in a government application, or guaranteeing approval, is running the scam version.
Can Section 8 pay a mortgage instead of rent?
Sometimes. Federal rules include a homeownership option that lets a housing agency apply the monthly voucher subsidy to a mortgage payment rather than to rent. It is optional for each agency, so many do not run it at all, and the ones that do attach employment, income and counseling conditions. Ask the agency holding the voucher before planning around it.
Do I have to be a first-time buyer to get help?
Often not. Several Nevada programs carry no first-time requirement at all, and where the term is used it usually means nobody in the household has owned a primary residence in the past three years, so a previous owner can qualify again. FHA and VA loans are not restricted to first-time buyers either, despite how often they are described that way.
What is the difference between a grant and down payment assistance?
A grant is not repaid. Down payment assistance is a category that includes grants, forgivable second mortgages that disappear if you stay long enough, and ordinary deferred loans that are repaid when you sell or refinance. Which one a program is decides what happens if you move in two years, so it is the first question to ask about any offer of help.
How long are the waiting lists?
For vouchers and public housing, usually years, and many lists are closed to new applications entirely between openings. Nothing about being more eligible moves you up one. Privately owned subsidized apartments are the part of the system that takes applications on ordinary days, and they need no voucher, which is why they are worth pursuing in parallel.
Does having a disability change what I can apply for?
It opens programs rather than closing them: Section 811 housing, VA adaptation grants for service-connected disabilities, state-funded home modification, and ABLE accounts that let you save a down payment without the savings costing you means-tested benefits. It also gives you the right to require a reasonable accommodation from a landlord or an HOA, which is a legal right rather than a favor.
Beyond the programs: our Section 8 in Clark County guide walks the voucher process end to end, buying with bad credit covers the loan side when the score is the obstacle, and the payment calculator will tell you what a given price actually costs per month once taxes, insurance and HOA dues are in it.