Below Market Rate (BMR) Housing Program

Forms

To be notified of any BMR opportunities as they come up for sale, please fill out the web form below to be added to the BMR Housing Homeownership email notification list:

We no longer have a waitlist. We will email out notifications to this distribution list when any BMR homes are for sale. Please note that the wait time varies; as is often the case, the City of Milpitas does not have a set amount of BMR homes available for sale. They become available when owners of current BMR homes decide they want to sell.

Overview

The City of Milpitas Below Market Rate (BMR) Program is designed to assist very-low, low- and moderate-income households in becoming homeowners.

Who Is Eligible

To be eligible for a below-market-rate home, you must be a first-time homebuyer (meaning you, as the applicant and your spouse or co-applicants have not owned a home during the 3-year period prior to the date of the application), have the ability to provide at least 10% required down payment, and household's income cannot exceed very-low, low- or moderate as defined by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, please refer to the chart.

HCD Income Limits 2023

Lottery System

The City of Milpitas will be transferring the available unit selection method from a waiting list to a lottery system. What does this mean for your current application? Nothing. If you have submitted an application, we will continue to contact you as units become available. When a unit becomes available, we will notify you about the lottery and the process to enter the lottery.

Preferences

While every applicant must meet the City's basic eligibility requirements, the City of Milpitas gives some Households a lottery preference that increases the chance that they will be offered an affordable unit.

The City endeavors to make housing available for Milpitas residents, individuals who work in Milpitas, Former Milpitas residents who have been displaced, and families with children enrolled in the McKinney Vento Program at the Milpitas Unified School District (MUSD):

  • To qualify as "Employed within the boundaries of the City of Milpitas," the person shall have been employed within the City of Milpitas for at least six months.
  • To qualify as a "Milpitas resident," the person shall have been a resident of the City of Milpitas for at least a one-year period prior to the eligibility determination.

Proof will be required for the stated preferences - for example, a copy of the applicant's utility bills indicating residence in Milpitas and/or lease agreement, and employment verification. Preferences must be current and apply to at least one person who will be living in the household at least 50% of the time.

The following procedure describes the steps in assigning the number of lottery tickets to applicants:

  1. Each applicant receives one lottery ticket as a baseline for submitting their application.
  2. Each preference category is assigned a number of additional tickets based on the weighting for that preference category.
  3. Each applicant identifies which preferences apply to their household. These preferences are then used to determine how many additional lottery tickets each household will receive. The intent of the weighted number of tickets is to prioritize the selection of a household that meets most of the City Council's priorities.
ApplicantsNumber of Lottery Tickets
All applicants
Receive 1 lottery ticket
Milpitas residents
Receive 5 additional lottery tickets
Former Milpitas residents who have been displaced
Receive 3 additional lottery tickets
Households with children enrolled in the Milpitas Unified School District (MUSD) that have inadequate housing as defined in the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
Receive 3 additional lottery tickets
Applicants employed within the boundaries of the City of Milpitas
Receive 1 additional lottery ticket

Available Financial Assistance

The City provides a limited amount of down payment assistance for very-low and low-income households who are approved and ready to purchase a BMR property.

How to Apply

  1. All you need to do is fill out the form at the top of this webpage.
  2. As units become available for purchase, you will be notified for the opportunity to enter into a lottery to be selected to purchase a below-market unit.
  3. Please be sure to update your contact information with the City so you can be informed as to our available units.

Please note - waiting time varies. See FAQs for more information.