Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA)

What Is the Delaware State Housing Authority?

The Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) is Delaware’s state housing agency. Its stated mission is to provide, and help others provide, quality affordable housing and supportive services for low- and moderate-income Delawareans.

DSHA was created in 1968 as a public corporation inside a state housing department. It moved between state departments over the following decades. In 1998, Governor Thomas R. Carper made it an independent authority in the Executive Department, with its director in the governor’s cabinet.

On September 30, 2026, the agency announced a new public name, Housing Delaware, with a new logo and a redesigned website. Its legal name is still the Delaware State Housing Authority, and its web address is unchanged.

How DSHA Works

DSHA combines roles that many states split between two or more agencies:

• Housing finance agency. It can issue its own bonds and notes, make loans and grants to housing sponsors, and lend to mortgage lenders that make home loans. Its Delaware Mortgage Program offers homebuyers 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at or below standard market rates.
• Tax credit allocator. DSHA awards Delaware’s share of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit each year through a competition governed by its Qualified Allocation Plan.
• Public housing agency. It runs public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs, mostly in Kent and Sussex counties.
• State programs. It administers the State Rental Assistance Program and the Delaware Housing Development Fund. Its director says it also leads the state’s homelessness response.

According to the agency, its homebuying programs served 1,593 Delaware families in 2025, and it supported 484 new affordable rental units that year.

Why It Matters for Workforce Housing

Delaware has a workforce housing program written into state law. Under the Delaware Workforce Housing Program, DSHA can award grants of up to 20% of a qualifying investment, counted above a minimum threshold, that builds, expands, or rehabilitates housing in areas the state’s planning strategy classifies as Investment Level 1 or 2. A “workforce housing unit” is defined as a home for a household earning no more than 100% of the area median income set by HUD. The grants depend on yearly legislative appropriations, and a unit that uses federal or state low-income housing tax credits cannot also receive one.

Exact income limits vary by county and household size. Check HUD’s income limits lookup for current figures.