Four programmes, four completely different income tests

Program and regulatory figures verified October 5, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.

By Mike Certo, Cornerstone First Mortgage · NMLS #260555 · Updated October 5, 2026

There is no single Louisiana income limit. Which test applies to you depends on the programme and, on one of them, on the loan product underneath it.

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The four tests

Two of these are flat dollar figures you can check against your own income in a second. Three are percentages of an area median that changes by parish and household size.

The two you can check yourself

HomeStart Advantage: $125,000. Annual household income, applied with no household-size table and no parish variation. For a great many Louisiana households this is simply not a binding constraint, which is part of why the programme is so useful after the rename. What else changed.

HomeStart Ready: $99,000 in qualifying borrower income. Note the wording differs — "qualifying borrower income" rather than "household income" — and Ready offers no assistance anyway, so it is the first-mortgage-only route.

The three that depend on your parish

Area median income is published per parish and adjusted for household size, so there is no single number to quote. What we can state exactly is the rule each programme applies:

• HomeStart Assist, FHA/VA/RD: may not exceed 115% of the applicable AMI in non-targeted areas, or 140% in targeted areas, adjusted for household size and property location.
• ★ HomeStart Assist, conventional: Fannie Mae HFA Preferred and Freddie Mac HFA Advantage are limited to 80% of the applicable AMI, and the guide states such a loan "may not be originated" above it. Why this trips people up.
• HomeStart Plus: may not exceed 80% of HUD area median income, adjusted for household size and property location.

Targeted-area status raises the government limit on Assist and leaves the conventional one alone. What else targeting changes.

★ Why there are no dollar figures in this table

Because we could not read them from a working source. LHC's HomeStart Assist and HomeStart Plus income-limit PDFs, linked from its own programme pages, both returned 404 when we checked on 2026-10-05. The current tables are published through eHousing Plus.

We could have reproduced figures from a secondary site or from LHC's legacy MRB exhibits. We did not, because a borrower is measured against the current published limit and a stale figure here is worse than no figure at all. The rules above are verified from the Lenders' Guide published 09/10/26; the parish dollar amounts are not, so they are not on this page.

Ask your lender to pull your parish's current figure from eHousing Plus at reservation, or send us your parish and household size and we will look it up.

Whose income counts?

The programmes use different language, and the difference is real. Assist and Plus speak of household income "adjusted for household size." Ready caps qualifying borrower income. Advantage caps annual household income.

This is not a place to assume. If you have a non-borrowing adult in the home, whether their income counts depends on which programme you are in — and that is a question for your lender against the current guidelines rather than something to infer from a web page. The rest of the eligibility picture.

A quick way to narrow it down

1. Over $125,000? None of the LHC assistance programmes reach you. Check the parish authorities — CAFA or JPFA — if you are in Baton Rouge or Jefferson Parish.
2. Under $125,000 and you have owned before? HomeStart Advantage, unless you are buying in a targeted area.
3. First-time buyer in one of the 47 Plus parishes, under 80% AMI? HomeStart Plus, by a wide margin — up to $55,000 against 4%.
4. First-time buyer elsewhere? HomeStart Assist, on a government loan unless you are under 80% AMI.

Frequently asked questions

What is the income limit for Louisiana down payment assistance?

It depends on the programme. HomeStart Advantage caps annual household income at $125,000 statewide. HomeStart Ready caps qualifying borrower income at $99,000. HomeStart Assist allows 115% of area median income in non-targeted areas and 140% in targeted areas on government loans, but only 80% of AMI on conventional. HomeStart Plus caps household income at 80% of HUD AMI.

What is the LHC income limit by parish?

Area median income figures are published per parish and adjusted for household size through eHousing Plus. LHC's own income limit PDFs for HomeStart Assist and HomeStart Plus returned errors when checked on 2026-10-05, so a current figure should be pulled from eHousing Plus at reservation rather than taken from a secondary source.

Is there one income limit for all Louisiana HomeStart programs?

No. The four programmes apply four different tests, and HomeStart Assist applies two of its own depending on whether the first mortgage is a government or a conventional loan.

Does household size affect LHC income limits?

On HomeStart Assist and HomeStart Plus, yes, because both are expressed as a percentage of area median income adjusted for household size and property location. HomeStart Advantage's $125,000 and HomeStart Ready's $99,000 are flat figures that do not vary by household size.

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Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about financing, not a loan commitment and not legal or tax advice. Louisiana Housing Corporation programme terms, income limits and purchase price limits are set by LHC and change; figures here carry the date we verified them against LHC's published documents. LHC assistance is a zero-interest forgivable second mortgage, forgiven only if occupancy and programme requirements are maintained. Federal recapture tax may apply on HomeStart Assist bond loans; consult a tax advisor. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.