Homeowners Assistance Program expanded to respond to mortgage foreclosures and credit crisis

Published Oct. 13, 2009
By Bekah Clark
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Details were announced Sept. 30 by Department of Defense officials about the distribution of the $555 million available under the Homeowners Assistance Program, or HAP, which was expanded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in February.

The expanded program is available to provide monetary relief to servicemember homeowners, including the Coast Guard, who have suffered a financial loss on the sale of their primary residence. Federal employee homeowners, including non-appropriated fund employees, are also eligible.

HAP is available to assist wounded servicemembers with 30 percent or greater disability, surviving spouses of fallen warriors, and wounded DoD civilian homeowners reassigned in furtherance of medical treatment or rehabilitation or due to medical retirement in connection with their disability. The program is also available to homeowners impacted by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, and servicemember homeowners undergoing Permanent Change of Station moves during the mortgage crisis.

At the top of the program's priority list are those wounded, injured or ill. Within that category applications will generally be processed in chronological order of the wound, injury or illness, officials said. The program covers those wounded, injured or ill since Sept. 11, 2001, and those who relocate for medical treatment.

Next are surviving spouses moving within two years of the death of the spouse. Applications generally will be processed in chronological order of the servicemember's or employee's date of death.

Next up are servicemembers and civilians affected by the BRAC 2005 process. Applications generally will be processed in chronological order of the date of job elimination, officials said. Under the legislation, homeowners do not have to prove that the BRAC process caused the drop in housing price.

Servicemember homeowners receiving orders dated on or after Feb. 1, 2006, through Dec. 31, 2009, for a PCS move are next on the priority list. The orders must specify a reporting date on or before Feb. 28, 2010, to a new duty station or home port outside a 50-mile radius of the former duty station. These dates may be extended to Sept. 30, 2012, based on availability of funds, officials said.

For more information on the program, including the application process, points of contact and benefits, logon to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' website at http://hap.usace.army.mil/homepage.html. Members are also encouraged to seek assistance from their local Housing Office.

The Army is the executive agent for implementing HAP and uses the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to execute the program. The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics has overall responsibility and oversight for the program.

The temporary expansion of HAP was made possible by the modification of the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act in response to the mortgage foreclosure and credit crisis.

The program has been in place since 1966, when it was used to mitigate the effect of a base closure on home prices. The current program is expanded to cover those affected by the economic downturn. The program is not designed to pay 100 percent of losses or to cover all declines in value, officials said, but it can help to protect eligible applicants from financial catastrophe due to significant losses in their home values.