Mississippi Home Corporation (MHC) has announced 2026-2027 funding availability for the Housing Assistance for Teachers (HAT) Program. HAT is a Mississippi-administered homebuyer-assistance program intended to recruit and retain qualified teachers in designated critical teacher-shortage school districts.
Funding and current status
Qualified teachers may receive up to $6,000 in Mississippi Department of Education assistance toward the borrower funds needed to close on a home. Funding may be used for the required down payment, eligible borrower-paid closing costs, prepaid expenses, and mortgage insurance when applicable. MHC states that funding is subject to availability; no fixed 2026-2027 closing date is published on the current program announcement.
Eligibility
Applicants must be full-time licensed teachers who agree to teach in the applicable school district for three years beginning with the school year and must meet the credit-eligibility requirements of an FHA, VA, USDA Rural Development Guaranteed, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac mortgage. The residential property must be in the county where the teacher is employed and the district must be designated by the Mississippi Department of Education as a critical teacher-shortage district.
Applicant contribution and program conditions
The homebuyer must provide at least 1% of the sales price from the buyer’s own funds plus one month of reserves. The reserve requirement may be gifted by a relative, but the 1% down-payment contribution may not. Grant assistance is forgiven when the licensed teacher satisfies the executed HAT Loan Agreement, including the required three-year service commitment.
Application pathway
The program operates through participating mortgage lenders and MHC’s HAT lending process. MHC’s lender resources provide the program manual, loan agreement, program forms, current 2026-2027 funding notice, and the list of eligible residential counties and school districts.
Atlas assessment
Atlas Opportunity Score: 68/100. This is a legitimate Mississippi education-workforce and housing-assistance opportunity with a clear statewide policy purpose, but the direct applicant is an individual qualifying teacher rather than a school district or other organization. N9+ Fit: 0/100. QC Healthcare Fit: 0/100. Dr. Miltie direct-applicant/vendor fit: 0/100. No organizational ORIGINAL outreach is authorized from this program-control record because the applicant is the individual teacher/borrower and the Mississippi lane’s ORIGINAL outreach requires a legitimate applicant plus a verified business Contact.
Official source: Mississippi Home Corporation’s 2026-2027 HAT funding announcement and current HAT program/lender resources.