Housing Assistance Programs Offer Help

Week of August 31, 2009

Two programs can assist servicemembers who have difficulty paying for housing -- the Homeowner's Assistance Program (HAP) and the Making Home Affordable Program. HAP is a DoD initiative that provides partial reimbursement for home-sale losses. HAP works with three military homeowner groups -- Warriors in Transition, military and DoD civilian employees impacted by BRAC, and PCS moves that occurred from July 1, 2006, through Dec. 31, 2009. The Making Home Affordable Program (MHAP) may fill the gap for people who don't qualify for HAP. For more information on specific program criteria or to apply online if eligible, visit the Army One Source website for links to HAP and MHAP or contact your local Army Community Service office.

The link below is to the USACE HAP homepage. The official guidance was released 30SEP09 and they have started processing applications starting with Wounded Warriors and Surviving Spouses. I was told there are about 2700 applications in the Savannah Officer which covers the East Coast and Europe. Following the WW and SS reviews, applications will be processed in a FIFO manner.

USACE Homeowner's Assistance Program

Brad

Thanks for that link and update, Brad. This could be very beneficial for many in the military community! I passed that along to some of the veteran organizations I am associated with. I hope to spread the word and you were very helpful in adding the information that will help others! Thank you!

As a side note, and unfortunately for us, we were not existing home owners at the time of my husband's injuries in Iraq. One of my goals is to find a way to help other veterans and their families who have had their lives shattered in service to their country actually have the resources to get on with the rest of their lives. There is a huge gap ....but it's good to see programs like this that may help close that gap!