thedrifter
05-17-09, 10:15 AM
PCSing troops could get cash for home sale losses
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, May 16, 2009
WASHINGTON — Troops who’ve sold a home at a loss due to permanent change of station moves may be able to get back some of that money, under program changes announced Thursday.
Wounded servicemembers who sell their home and troops forced to relocate because of base closures will be able to recoup that loss, too. Pentagon officials estimated nearly 10,000 homeowners could be helped through the plan.
The money comes from the Defense Department’s Housing Assistance Program, which received $555 million under the economic recovery package passed in February.
On Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden told sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan in San Diego that the administration empathizes with the problems faced by military homeowners in difficult financial times.
“In the middle of a credit and housing crisis, we recognize that military families cannot generally choose when they move,” he said. “So we used this half a billion dollars to dramatically expand what was once a fairly small program assisting your families forced to relocate due to base closures and/or normal assignment rotations.”
The 40-year-old housing program has been used in the past mainly for base closure cases.
Mike McCord, deputy comptroller for the defense department, said the expanded program will now give top priority to wounded troops and families of servicemembers killed overseas.
Wounded troops must show that they need to switch homes to help with rehabilitation, or because of medical retirement from the military. After that, any remaining funds will go to families affected by BRAC moves or PCS moves.
Under the program, servicemembers must try to sell their homes through normal commercial means at fair market value. If the sale price is less than what troops paid for the home, the housing program will refund troops up to 90 percent of the original cost of the property.
The program is retroactive to February 2006. So a servicemember who bought a home for $200,000 five years ago but was forced to sell it last year for $170,000 after a PCS move could receive $10,000 under the plan (since 90 percent of the original price would be $180,000).
For wounded troops and families of deceased troops, that figure rises to 95 percent.
But there are restrictions. The program only covers U.S. home sales. The wounded warrior portions of the measure only cover troops injured during deployment since 2001. For PCS and BRAC moves, the homes must have been bought before July 2006.
And the $555 million only covers PCS and wounded troops homes sales through the end of this year. Troops affected by BRAC moves have until 2012 to sell their homes, but McCord said extending the program for all groups past the end of 2009 will require more money from Congress for next fiscal year.
In cases where troops cannot sell their homes after an extended period of time, or where the value of the property has dropped by more than 25 percent, HAP administrators will buy the property. Troops will only receive the 75 percent of the purchase price in those cases, and Director of Housing Competitive Sourcing Joe Sikes called that provision a last resort for homeowners.
“It’s a minor part of the program, we hope,” he said. “We really don’t want to own houses.”
All applications for the program will be taken through the HAP Web site, http://hap.usace.army.mil
Ellie
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, May 16, 2009
WASHINGTON — Troops who’ve sold a home at a loss due to permanent change of station moves may be able to get back some of that money, under program changes announced Thursday.
Wounded servicemembers who sell their home and troops forced to relocate because of base closures will be able to recoup that loss, too. Pentagon officials estimated nearly 10,000 homeowners could be helped through the plan.
The money comes from the Defense Department’s Housing Assistance Program, which received $555 million under the economic recovery package passed in February.
On Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden told sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan in San Diego that the administration empathizes with the problems faced by military homeowners in difficult financial times.
“In the middle of a credit and housing crisis, we recognize that military families cannot generally choose when they move,” he said. “So we used this half a billion dollars to dramatically expand what was once a fairly small program assisting your families forced to relocate due to base closures and/or normal assignment rotations.”
The 40-year-old housing program has been used in the past mainly for base closure cases.
Mike McCord, deputy comptroller for the defense department, said the expanded program will now give top priority to wounded troops and families of servicemembers killed overseas.
Wounded troops must show that they need to switch homes to help with rehabilitation, or because of medical retirement from the military. After that, any remaining funds will go to families affected by BRAC moves or PCS moves.
Under the program, servicemembers must try to sell their homes through normal commercial means at fair market value. If the sale price is less than what troops paid for the home, the housing program will refund troops up to 90 percent of the original cost of the property.
The program is retroactive to February 2006. So a servicemember who bought a home for $200,000 five years ago but was forced to sell it last year for $170,000 after a PCS move could receive $10,000 under the plan (since 90 percent of the original price would be $180,000).
For wounded troops and families of deceased troops, that figure rises to 95 percent.
But there are restrictions. The program only covers U.S. home sales. The wounded warrior portions of the measure only cover troops injured during deployment since 2001. For PCS and BRAC moves, the homes must have been bought before July 2006.
And the $555 million only covers PCS and wounded troops homes sales through the end of this year. Troops affected by BRAC moves have until 2012 to sell their homes, but McCord said extending the program for all groups past the end of 2009 will require more money from Congress for next fiscal year.
In cases where troops cannot sell their homes after an extended period of time, or where the value of the property has dropped by more than 25 percent, HAP administrators will buy the property. Troops will only receive the 75 percent of the purchase price in those cases, and Director of Housing Competitive Sourcing Joe Sikes called that provision a last resort for homeowners.
“It’s a minor part of the program, we hope,” he said. “We really don’t want to own houses.”
All applications for the program will be taken through the HAP Web site, http://hap.usace.army.mil
Ellie