CHFA Schools to Home: Up to 25% Down Payment Assistance for Colorado School Employees

This post was co-authored with Connor Hayden of West Way Lending (NMLS #2545935), who walked our brokerage through the CHFA Schools to Home program and answered the questions buyers are actually asking.

If you work for a Colorado public school and you've assumed homeownership is out of reach, this is the program to know about. In July 2026, the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) launched Schools to Home, a down payment assistance program that can cover up to 25% of your first mortgage amount as a deferred second mortgage with 0% interest and no monthly payment.

For context: CHFA's standard down payment assistance tops out at $25,000. On a $400,000 loan, Schools to Home can provide up to $100,000. That's not a typo, and it's why this program deserves its own post.

One note before we start: program terms change. Everything below is accurate as we write this, but confirm current terms at chfainfo.com or with a CHFA-participating lender before building your plan around a number.

Where This Program Came From

Schools to Home was created by Senate Bill 25-167, bipartisan legislation passed in Colorado's 2025 session, and launched by CHFA on July 21, 2026. It's funded through an investment from Colorado's Public School Permanent Fund (PSPF).

The problem it's built to solve is real. A Keystone Policy Center report cited in CHFA's announcement found that in some Colorado school districts, the majority of teachers spend over 40% of their income on housing, and that housing costs play a significant role in whether educators stay in their communities at all.

How the Program Works: Three Pieces

The structure has three parts, and understanding all three is the key to deciding whether it fits you.

1. A fixed-rate first mortgage. A qualifying fixed-rate Fannie Mae first mortgage through a CHFA-participating lender.

2. A down payment assistance second mortgage. Up to 25% of the first mortgage loan amount, applied toward your down payment and/or closing costs. It carries 0% interest and no monthly payment; repayment is deferred.

3. A shared appreciation component. When you eventually sell, refinance, or pay off the loan, you repay the assistance plus a share of your home's appreciation, which goes back into the Public School Permanent Fund to help future borrowers. The percentage of appreciation you share can never exceed the DPA percentage you originally received.

One of the most common questions Connor gets is whether "0% interest" is really the whole story. His answer:

"The DPA second mortgage itself is 0% interest and carries no monthly payment since it is a deferred second mortgage. The first mortgage carries a slightly higher rate than normal, which is standard for CHFA DPA programs."

That trade-off (a modestly higher first-mortgage rate in exchange for a six-figure boost toward your down payment) is the honest math of the program, and it's worth running both scenarios with your lender.

Who Qualifies

The program covers far more than teachers. Any individual classified as a full-time employee by a preK–12 Colorado public school, school district, charter school, institute charter school, board of cooperative educational services (BOCES), or innovation zone is eligible. That includes paraprofessionals, administrators, bus drivers, cafeteria staff, and custodial and maintenance workers.

A detail that matters for households: if multiple borrowers are on the loan, only one needs to be a full-time public school employee. So a teacher buying with a spouse who works in another field qualifies.

We asked Connor whether the program extends beyond current public school employees:

"At least one borrower must be a current, full-time employee of an eligible Colorado public school entity. A retired teacher wouldn't qualify alone, but can still qualify with a co-borrower who is currently employed."

Beyond employment, the requirements are:

• The home must be your primary residence
• Completion of a CHFA-approved homebuyer education class
• Completion of CHFA's "Understanding Your Financial Commitment" course and quiz, built specifically for this program

You can verify that your employer qualifies on the Colorado Department of Education's website. Your lender will help you confirm.

As Little as $1,000 Out of Pocket

Here's the number that surprises people most: an eligible school employee needs to bring as little as $1,000 of personal funds to closing. Seller concessions may help cover remaining eligible closing costs. Between the 25% assistance and the low minimum contribution, the traditional "save for years before you can buy" timeline compresses dramatically.

How Shared Appreciation Actually Works

This is the part of the program that's genuinely different from other down payment assistance, so let's walk through CHFA's illustrative example.

Say you buy a home for $500,000 with a $400,000 first mortgage and receive the full 25% DPA of $100,000. Years later, you sell when the home is worth $550,000. Your home appreciated $50,000.

At that point you'd repay:

• The original $100,000 in assistance, plus
• A shared appreciation payment of $10,000: the $50,000 appreciation multiplied by the ratio of your DPA to your original purchase price ($100,000 ÷ $500,000 = 20%)

Total repaid: $110,000. After paying off your $400,000 first mortgage, you'd walk away with roughly $40,000 in equity. That's equity most renters never build. (This example is illustrative only; your numbers will differ.)

The shared appreciation is capped: the percentage you owe can never exceed the DPA percentage you received. And there's a purpose behind the structure: the repaid appreciation flows back into the Public School Permanent Fund, creating a sustainable source of assistance for the next generation of school-employee homebuyers.

Is There a Minimum Time You Have to Live in the Home?

Another question that comes up in every conversation about this program. Connor's answer:

"No - repayment is triggered by a sale, refinance, payoff, or no longer occupied as their primary residence."

In other words, there's no lock-in period. You simply repay the assistance (plus the appreciation share) whenever one of those events happens. Live in the home as your primary residence, and the deferral continues.

How It Compares to Standard CHFA Assistance

If you've researched CHFA before, you know the standard options: a grant up to the lesser of $25,000 or 3% of the first mortgage, or a deferred second mortgage up to the lesser of $25,000 or 4%. Those are solid programs available to any CHFA-eligible borrower.

Schools to Home is a different scale. On a $400,000 loan, standard CHFA second-mortgage assistance at 4% is $16,000. Schools to Home at 25% is $100,000 — over six times the assistance. The trade is the shared appreciation component, which the standard programs don't have. For buyers who are short on down payment but solid on monthly income (which describes a lot of school employees in the Denver metro), that trade is often worth making. Your lender can model both side by side.

How to Get Started

The process is three steps:

1. Connect with a CHFA-participating lender to talk through eligibility and get pre-qualified. West Way Lending can walk you through the program specifics: reach Connor Hayden at connor@westwaylending.com.
2. Complete the education requirements: the CHFA-approved homebuyer education class plus the "Understanding Your Financial Commitment" course and quiz.
3. Apply for the first mortgage and the Schools to Home assistance together.

And when you're ready to actually find the home, that's where I come in. I help buyers all over the Denver metro, and pairing this program with the right neighborhood and the right negotiation strategy is where it goes from a good program on paper to keys in your hand.

If you work for a Colorado public school, or you know someone who does, reach out and we'll map out what this looks like for your situation.

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Connor Hayden is a loan officer at West Way Lending (NMLS #2545935; company NMLS #2374726). Scot Conti is a Denver real estate broker with West + Main Homes. This post is for informational purposes only and is not financial or lending advice. Program terms, rates, and eligibility requirements are set by CHFA and subject to change. Verify current details at chfainfo.com or with a CHFA-participating lender.