Homeowners Assistance Program Expands

The Department of Defense (DOD) is proud to offer the Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP) to eligible service members and federal civilian, including non-appropriated fund, employees. The program is authorized by law, and administered by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to assist eligible homeowners who face financial loss when selling their primary residence homes in areas where real estate values have declined because of a base closure or realignment announcement.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) temporarily expands the HAP to assist service members and DOD employees who are wounded, injured or become ill when deployed, surviving spouses of service members or DOD employees killed or died of wounds while deployed, service member and civilian employees assigned to BRAC 05 organizations, and service members required to permanently relocate during the home mortgage crisis.

In 2009, the Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP) was expanded to provide assistance to wounded service members or Department Of Defense (DOD) civilians reassigned due to medical or rehabilitation purposes or retirement due to their disability; surviving spouses of the fallen; BRAC 2005 impacted homeowners, and service members undergoing a permanent change of station during the mortgage crisis.  A new component now allows the program to assist qualified applicants in the direct sale of their homes in two specific ways: reimbursement at closing and government acquisition.  For a straight private sale - where the applicant does not have the funds to close - HAP may help.  For more information, visit the Homeowners Assistance Program website or contact your local HAP Field Office which can be found here.

http://hap.usace.army.mil/