What Section 504 pays for
USDA counts wheelchair ramps and widened doorways among the repairs that remove health and safety hazards. Those two are where the program and our work meet.
The grant goes up to $10,000. The loan goes up to $40,000 at 1 percent fixed over 20 years, and a grant and a loan together can reach $50,000.
Who qualifies for a 504 grant or loan
You have to own the home and live in it. It has to be in a USDA eligible rural area, and you have to be unable to get affordable credit anywhere else.
Grants carry two more conditions, age 62 or older and very low income for your county. Loans have no age requirement. If you sell the home within three years, the grant has to be repaid.
Ask USDA first whether your address is in an eligible area. Everything else on this page depends on that answer.
How 504 money reaches the contractor
USDA inspects the home and issues a notice to proceed before work begins. The contractor is paid after the final inspection, so nobody is paid up front out of program money.
Our part in a Section 504 repair
We are not enrolled with USDA, and we do not apply for you. Ask USDA Rural Development how the contractor is chosen for your repair.
If the file needs a contractor estimate, ours is a written scope from the Livability Assessment, with the ramp or the doorway priced item by item. No crew of ours starts a 504 repair before the notice to proceed is issued.
Questions about USDA Section 504
Do I have to be 62 for a USDA 504 loan?
No. The age rule of 62 or older applies to the grant. USDA loans have no age requirement.
What happens to the 504 grant if we sell the house?
USDA requires the grant to be repaid if the home is sold within three years.
Services USDA Section 504 can pay for
Where this comes from
Section 504 Home Repair Loans and Grants, run by USDA Rural Development. Current as of October 2026. USDA Section 504 decides eligibility and amounts, so confirm its terms before you plan around it.