Affordable housing programs — Indian River County, Florida

Two countywide programs operate from 1800 27th Street in Vero Beach: SHIP home loans through the Community Services Department and Housing Choice Vouchers through the Housing Services Division, and on October 12, 2026 both waitlists were closed to most new applicants.

The loan program carries the formal name Indian River County Local Housing Assistance Program and dates to April 6, 1993; its stated tools are low or no-interest loans for down payments and closing costs, impact fees and the renovation of substandard units (Indian River County SHIP). The SHIP office sees people by appointment only and does not take walk-ins. Its notice says the waitlist stays closed until further notice.

The voucher side is a federal HUD program that the county Housing Services Division oversees for the whole county, paying part of the rent on privately owned homes for income-eligible renters (Indian River County Housing Services). Because the county, not a city housing authority, administers it, a renter in Fellsmere, Sebastian, Vero Beach, Indian River Shores or Orchid deals with the same Building B office. Recent applicants are directed to waitlistcheck.com, the only place the county offers application status and position numbers.

Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the Indian River County website.

For 2026, a four-person household in the Sebastian-Vero Beach metro, which covers all of Indian River County, is very low income up to $51,150, low income up to $81,800 and moderate income up to $122,760, against an area median of $105,200.

Florida law ties each SHIP category to area median income adjusted for family size: very low means no more than 50 percent, low no more than 80 percent, and moderate no more than 120 percent (Florida Statutes 420.9071). Florida Housing Finance Corporation turns those percentages into dollar limits for each county, and its 2026 table, effective May 1, 2026, lists the county as Indian River County (Sebastian-Vero Beach MSA) (Florida Housing 2026 SHIP limits, page 5).

The same Florida Housing page sets maximum SHIP rents for the county. A two-bedroom unit rented to a low income household is capped at $1,841 a month, and a one-bedroom at $1,534; at the very low level the caps are $1,150 and $958 (Florida Housing 2026 SHIP limits). Those caps govern SHIP-assisted rentals anywhere from Fellsmere to the Vero Beach mainland.

Income alone does not qualify a household. The county FAQ adds that at least one member must be employed or receive steady income such as social security or disability, that total household assets may not exceed $20,000.00, and that the applicant needs a satisfactory credit rating for the prior year (Indian River County SHIP FAQ). A buyer must also not have owned a home in the three years before a Purchase Assistance Loan, and the home price must fall under the program's limits. New applicants apply online through the county's Neighborly portal rather than at the 27th Street counter.

County staff screen each SHIP application, the Indian River County Loan Review Committee makes the approval decision, and the resulting loan is deferred with no monthly payment until the home is sold, refinanced for cash or no longer the owner's residence.

Six loan types are listed. Purchase Assistance Loans go to very low, low and moderate income buyers; Rehabilitation and Foreclosure Prevention loans are limited to very low and low income owner-occupants; Emergency Rehabilitation reaches moderate income owners too, once a building official or the health department confirms an emergency; Disaster Mitigation Repair loans fix damage from a state or federally declared disaster; and Impact Fee or Capacity Charges loans reach moderate income households only alongside a purchase loan (Indian River County SHIP FAQ). Only the emergency and foreclosure tracks were open at the 1800 27th Street office as of October 12, 2026 (Indian River County SHIP).

State rules steer how the county spends its allocation. At least 30 percent must go to very low income households, at least 30 percent to low income households, at least 65 percent to homeownership, and at least 75 percent to construction, rehabilitation and emergency repairs (Indian River County SHIP FAQ). Those minimums apply to the county's whole allocation, whether a loan repairs an owner-occupied home in Gifford or Wabasso or helps a first purchase in Sebastian.

The governing documents are public. The county document center posts Local Housing Assistance Plans back to 2012-2015, an Amended 2024-2027 LHAP, SHIP annual reports from 2015 through 2026, and Affordable Housing Advisory Committee reports for 2024 and 2025 (Indian River County SHIP). State law defines that advisory committee as one appointed by the county's governing body (Florida Statutes 420.9071), which in Indian River County is the Board of County Commissioners. The same document center carries a Treasure Coast HOME Consortium annual action plan and a 2022-2026 HOME consolidated plan.

Not through the general list: the Indian River County Housing Choice Voucher waitlist was closed on October 12, 2026, and the only open door at the Building B office was HUD-VASH for homeless veterans referred by the VA.

HUD-VASH pairs a Housing Choice Voucher with case management and clinical services from the Department of Veterans Affairs. A veteran needs a written VA referral, must be income eligible and must be considered homeless (Indian River County Housing Services). The county lists two contacts for that referral: the West Palm Beach VA Veterans Resource Center at 7305 North Military Trail, and the Indian River County Veteran Services Office at 2525 St. Lucie Avenue in Vero Beach, phone 772-226-4362.

Housing Services posts a Fiscal Year 2027 Payment Standards schedule and a Fiscal Year 2027 Utility Allowance Schedule, both effective October 1, 2026, alongside the FY 2026 versions that took effect October 1, 2025 (Indian River County Housing Services). The dollar figures sit in those posted schedules rather than on the 27th Street office page. Housing Services takes calls at (772) 226-4360 and faxes at (772) 226-4370. General county offices, headquartered at 1801 27th Street, keep hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

For FY 2026, the HUD fair market rent figure for the Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor metro, an area made up of Indian River County alone, is $1,604 for a two-bedroom unit, up $37 from FY 2025.

HUD states that the metro area consists of Indian River County only, so one set of fair market rents covers Sebastian, Vero Beach, Fellsmere and the unincorporated county (HUD USER FY 2026 FMR). The FY 2026 figures start from 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates of two-bedroom gross rents, then add recent-mover, inflation and trend adjustments.

The change column is simple subtraction of the two HUD figures; for the two-bedroom unit, $1,604 minus $1,567 is $37, about 2.4 percent. Smaller units in the Vero Beach and Sebastian market moved the other way, with efficiencies and one-bedrooms each down about $25 a month.

The two benchmarks come from different agencies. HUD publishes the fair market rent for the whole Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor metro, while the Florida Housing SHIP cap of $1,841 for a two-bedroom at the low income level limits rents on SHIP-assisted units; for a two-bedroom in Indian River County the SHIP cap sits $237 above the FY 2026 fair market rent ($1,841 minus $1,604).