A Hyattsville buyer who uses the county's Homeownership Equity Program and sells four years and eleven months after settlement still owes 20% of the original assistance. If the buyer waits one more month, the balance is zero. The loan note says the yearly forgiveness "will NOT be prorated." Forgiveness happens only on each full anniversary of settlement, and only if the buyer has lived in the home as a principal residence through that date.
Prince George's County now runs three down payment programs. The county launched two of them on July 1, 2026, the Homeownership Equity Program and the Critical Workforce Housing Assistance Program, alongside its existing Pathway to Purchase program. All three must be used through an approved lender. Each one is a zero-interest deferred loan that is forgiven on a fixed schedule. Each schedule is different, so each program comes with its own minimum stay before the money is truly yours.
A deferred loan with a holding period attached
The table below sets out the three clocks, using the county's published terms.
| Program | Maximum assistance | Income limit | Forgiveness schedule | Fully forgiven after | Published price cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homeownership Equity Program (HEP) | $30,000 | Up to 120% of AMI | 20% on each settlement anniversary | 5 years | None stated |
| Critical Workforce Housing Assistance Program | $50,000 or 25% of price, whichever is less | Up to 120% of AMI | 10% on each settlement anniversary | 10 years | None published |
| Pathway to Purchase | $50,000 | Up to 80% of AMI | Nothing in years 1 to 5, then 10% a year | 15 years | $448,000 resale, $485,000 new construction |
Here is how the stepped schedules work on a sale, using each program's maximum award:
- HEP, $30,000, sold at 4 years and 11 months. Four anniversaries have passed, so 20% remains, which is $6,000.
- Critical Workforce, $50,000, sold at 6 years and 11 months. Six anniversaries have passed, so 40% remains, which is $20,000. The note's schedule drops ten percentage points at each anniversary and does not prorate between them.
- Pathway to Purchase, $50,000, sold at 10 years. Under the county page's schedule, nothing is forgiven for the first five years. Five yearly 10% steps follow, so half the balance, $25,000, is still outstanding at year ten.
All three notes include one protection. On a sale or transfer, repayment is limited to net proceeds after senior debt and customary closing costs. Moving out without selling also counts as a trigger. A home that stops being the buyer's principal residence, for example because it becomes a rental after a job move, brings the remaining balance due.
Refinancing is handled more loosely. The HEP note describes recapture when the county consents to a refinance on the condition of repayment. The HEP guidelines allow a qualifying subordination as long as the home remains the borrower's primary residence. The Critical Workforce note uses the same consent-on-condition language.
Pathway's clock has an open question
Pathway's schedule is not as settled as it looks. The county's program page and its July 2026 homebuyer kit describe full forgiveness after 15 years of owner occupancy. The Maryland Mortgage Program's Pathway page describes forgiveness after ten years. The county's 2026 Pathway note includes a 15-year balance schedule but also refers to forgiveness on the 10th anniversary. The signed note is the controlling document. A buyer with this question should get the answer in writing from the county's Department of Housing and Community Development before settlement.
Why Hyattsville sits on the shortest clock
HEP is the program with the five-year clock, and it is open only to purchases inside the I-495 Capital Beltway. The guidelines require a ratified contract on a home in Prince George's County inside the Beltway. Exhibit A of the July 2026 guidelines lists 20781, 20782 and 20783 among the Beltway ZIP codes. It also lists 20784 as only partly inside, so for a 20784 address the property's own location decides eligibility.
HEP applicants must be first-time buyers and county residents. The guidelines list three qualifying groups: public-sector workers, former renters in the designated inside-Beltway ZIP codes or neighborhoods, and residents with multigenerational caregivers. Buyers contribute at least $1,000, which can include the earnest money deposit, inspection and appraisal fees, and the counseling fee. The public page sets the income ceiling at 120% of area median income. The July manual also describes an eligible band of 80% to 120%. As DHCD Director Jonathan R. Butler explained to Hyattsville Life & Times, 120% of AMI works out to $139,500 for a single buyer or $159,450 for a household of two.
The income lines also form a sequence. Butler told the paper that Pathway's 80% cap means a household of one can earn no more than $93,000, and a household of two no more than $106,000. A household earning just above Pathway's limit can still be eligible for HEP. In that case it receives less money, $30,000 instead of up to $50,000, but on a clock one-third as long.
The employer, not the job title, sets Critical Workforce eligibility
The Critical Workforce program covers full-time Prince George's County Public Schools teachers and full-time nurses at county hospitals or medical offices. It also covers specified full-time public-safety workers employed by County Government.
In Hyattsville, that wording separates two groups of first responders. Hyattsville Life & Times reported that Prince George's County Police officers would qualify, but Hyattsville Police Department officers would not, because the City of Hyattsville employs them. Hyattsville firefighters would qualify because the county employs them.
The "25% of price, whichever is less" formula matters only below a $200,000 purchase price. Above that, the $50,000 cap is the binding limit. In September 2026, attached homes countywide averaged $383,753, so for most buyers the full $50,000 is the ceiling.
Pathway's price cap now sits below the county median
Pathway is the only one of the three programs with a published price limit. The cap is $448,000 for resales and $485,000 for new construction. The Prince George's Association of REALTORS September 2026 report, calculated October 8, 2026 from Bright MLS data, put the countywide median sold price at $450,000. That is $2,000 above Pathway's resale cap.
The split by property type explains what that means in practice. In September 2026, detached homes countywide averaged $511,460 across 345 sales, and attached homes averaged $383,753 across 220 sales. These are countywide figures. We did not find a ZIP-level Hyattsville figure for the same period in the public sources checked. Countywide, Pathway's $448,000 resale cap sits about $64,000 above the attached average and about $63,000 below the detached average. With the median $2,000 over the cap, a Pathway buyer is shopping in the lower half of the county's sales. HEP and Critical Workforce publish no price cap at all.
One county program per buyer, plus state money on top
Buyers cannot combine the three county programs. The HEP guidelines say an applicant "may only qualify for one Prince George's County homeownership program." Assistance from non-county programs is allowed, and the third-party approval letter is used to set the HEP loan amount. All three programs point buyers to the Maryland Mortgage Program. For Pathway, the state describes separate applications and the possibility of MMP's $8,500 in assistance alongside approved Pathway funds.
The process is the same across all three. Buyers apply through an approved lender and complete an eight-hour homebuyer education course. Butler told the paper that underwriting looks mainly at debt-to-income ratios and income rather than leaning heavily on credit scores. HEP applications are processed first-come, first-ready, subject to available funds, and submitting an application does not guarantee funding. For a sense of scale, Pathway awarded more than $1.2 million to 33 buyers in fiscal year 2026.
Questions that come up
Can these programs be used on a co-op?
The program materials name single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums as eligible property types. They do not list co-ops.
Does the City of Hyattsville have its own program?
Not one that has launched. Hyattsville Life & Times reported in March 2026 on a proposed $1 million revolving housing fund. The proposal included down payment loans of up to $25,000 for Hyattsville Police Department employees, but the motion did not advance at the February meeting. An October 8, 2026 report found $1 million held as of June for a council-backed housing assistance program that is still in development.
Can a seller with a tenant in place sell to an HEP buyer?
The HEP guidelines require the seller to sign an affidavit. It certifies that the property was owner-occupied, vacant, or not lawfully occupied by a tenant at the time of the initial contract, and that no tenant was unlawfully evicted or denied a lease renewal in anticipation of the sale.
This post explains how the county's programs are structured. It is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Please confirm your own eligibility and loan terms with DHCD, an approved lender and your own advisors.
When you're weighing these programs, it helps to set each forgiveness schedule beside your own likely timeline before you write an offer. Kim Kash works with Hyattsville buyers on exactly that, from how a program's property-type rules affect your search to how the lender's timing fits into a settlement date. Let's connect.
