USDA Section 504 repair loans and grants

As of November 2026, USDA Rural Development's Section 504 program page lists a maximum repair loan of $40,000 and a maximum grant of $10,000, which can be combined up to $50,000. Loans are for homeowners whose income does not exceed the county low-income or very-low-income limit. Grants are only for homeowners age 62 or older whose income does not exceed the very-low-income limit. You also have to own and occupy the house, live in an eligible rural area, and be unable to get affordable credit elsewhere. Those ceilings are not a promise that you will be approved. Confirm the current figures and your county limits with the local Rural Development office before you hire anyone.

Section 504 here means the Single Family Housing Repair Loans and Grants program. It is not Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the civil-rights law about disability discrimination. The figures below are from USDA's program page and the September 2026 fact sheet, read in November 2026. USDA says the local office is the authority when pages disagree.

What the program is for

The program page separates the two kinds of help. Loans may repair, improve, or modernize a home, or remove health and safety hazards, for low-income and very-low-income owner-occupants. Grants must be used to remove health and safety hazards, and only for applicants who are 62 or older and very-low-income. A loan is not limited to the very-low-income tier. Treating the whole program as very-low-income only would turn away households the loan side still lists.

A February 27, 2026 USDA Rural Development news release described the grant side as help for seniors who cannot afford to repay a loan, and gave wheelchair ramps and walk-in tubs as examples of accessibility work the grant can cover when the purpose is health and safety. The program page's controlling line is that grants must be used to remove health and safety hazards. Do not buy a fixture and assume it qualifies. Describe the hazard and the repair to the local office and let them say whether it fits.

The amounts and the loan terms

USDA's program page states:

Maximum loan is $40,000.
Maximum grant is $10,000.
Loans and grants can be combined for up to $50,000 in assistance.

Loan terms on that page: loans are termed for 20 years, the interest rate is fixed at 1 percent, and full title service is required if the total outstanding balance on Section 504 loans is greater than $25,000. Grants have a lifetime limit of $10,000. Grants must be repaid if the property is sold in less than 3 years.

Those are the ceilings, not the amount you will be offered. The repair's cost, the equity and the underwriting, and the office's funds all sit between zero and the ceiling. A grant lifetime limit means earlier Section 504 grants count. If someone in the household received a grant years ago, tell the office. Do not guess that it has been forgotten.

USDA also has a page for Section 504 loans and grants after presidentially declared disasters. That page has published different ceilings than the regular program, including a higher grant maximum, under pilot terms that named an end date. Do not copy a disaster figure onto a normal repair, and do not assume in November 2026 that the pilot is still open for your county. Ask the local office which notice, if any, applies to the address.

Who should not assume they qualify

You need to own the house and live in it. A rental property you own and do not occupy is outside this program. A house in a suburb or a city that USDA maps as ineligible is outside it, even if the town feels rural to you. The map is the test. USDA points applicants to its eligibility site for income and property limits. Use that site, then confirm with the office, because maps and income tables are updated.

"Unable to obtain affordable credit elsewhere" is a program rule, not a mood. The office will ask about income, debts, and credit. A household that a bank will lend to on ordinary terms may be pointed away from Section 504. That can feel unfair and it is still the rule. Grants are aimed at older homeowners who cannot repay a loan. If you can repay, the conversation may be about the 1 percent loan instead of the grant.

The work has to be a repair or an improvement the program recognizes. Luxury finishes will not be the purpose of a grant. Health and safety hazards — a failing roof, a heater that does not heat, a bathroom that cannot be used safely, an entry that cannot be entered — are the language of the program. Bring the house-walk list and a contractor's description. Do not bring only a showroom photo.

How to apply without tripping yourself

Find the state Rural Development office from USDA's site, not from a search ad. Third parties offer to "help you get the grant" for a fee. The application itself is filed with USDA. You can use a counselor from a housing nonprofit if you want help. You should not pay a large fee for a form the agency provides. Ask the office which form set is current and what inspections they require. Work done before approval is a common way to become ineligible for reimbursement. Ask before you start.

Typical files include proof of ownership, proof of income, identification, and evidence of the repair. The exact list is the office's. Bring a bid that separates labor and materials so a reviewer can see what the money buys. The bid guide is written for that kind of itemizing. A one-line price is hard for a reviewer to defend.

If you are approved, read the security instrument. A loan is a debt at 1 percent for up to 20 years. That rate is unusually low and it is still a lien. A grant repaid on an early sale is also real. Plan to stay, or plan for the repayment. This is not a reason to refuse help you need. It is a reason to read the paper.

Ask USDA, not a website

Is this address in an eligible rural area today?
What are the current income limits for this county, for a loan and for a grant?
Do we meet the "no affordable credit elsewhere" test, and what documents show it?
For a grant, is the applicant 62 or older, and has any lifetime grant already been used?
Does the repair we described count as removing a health and safety hazard?
What is the current maximum we could be considered for, and what is actually available?
If we sell within three years, what grant repayment applies?
May we start work before approval? (Assume the answer is no until they say otherwise.)

Other programs can sit beside this one or replace it. VA grants apply only to eligible veterans and service members and are described in the VA guide. Medicaid waivers, where a state includes home modifications, are a different door. None of them stack automatically. Tell each agency about the others. Double-paying a contractor with two public sources for the same invoice is a problem you do not want.

Section 504 is one of the few programs with a published national ceiling and a one percent loan. It is also narrow: rural, income-limited, owner-occupied, and, for grants, age-limited. If you are outside it, you have not failed. You have learned which door to stop knocking on, and you can spend your energy on the repair list itself.

Sources

USDA Rural Development, Single Family Housing Repair Loans and Grants. Figures as of November 2026.
USDA Rural Development, program fact sheet "Single Family Housing Repair Loans and Grants" (revised September 2026), distributed from rd.usda.gov.
USDA Rural Development news release, February 27, 2026, "Restoring Homes, Renewing Hope Through the USDA Rural Development Home Repair Loan and Grant Program."
USDA property and income eligibility tool, linked from the program page (eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov).
Joint Center for Housing Studies, Housing America's Older Adults 2023, which describes the same $10,000 grant and $40,000 loan ceilings.
National Institute on Aging, Aging in place.