According to the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA), State Housing Finance Agencies (HFAs) are not all created equal. However, they are all originally started by the state government and all have varying levels of connectedness to the government. Many of them function more or less independently of the state government, although the board of directors that oversee each HFA are typically appointed by each state's governor. In addition to this connection, HFAs are usually started off of government money, but they continue to fund their lending practices by selling Housing Bonds, which do not offer a high interest rate for investors, but do have attractive tax benefits. Specifically, they are tax exempt. In any case, each state's HFA is totally different from the others, but all have a common underlying cause of assisting low income residents afford housing.

Some HFAs offer mortgage-backing to consumers meeting certain criteria. There is a strict limit on income, as well as home value. However, the interest rate is very low for these loans, and there is not a huge amount of cash required for the purchase. While HFAs in some cities also build affordable multifamily housing units, they have helped over 2.6 million low income families purchase their first home. Strangely, many consumers are not even aware of the existence of their state's HFA and what it could do to help them. This is in part because most mortgage brokers are not exactly well-versed in this type of lending either. Many states also have special programs offering incentives for buyers looking at specific areas of a city. Typically, these are less populated and or less wealthy than other areas. In any case, it would definitely be worth any first time home buyer's time to stop by their state's HFA and see if there are any programs that might be applicable to their situation.