Bill aims to help military homeowners

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon would have more flexibility to assist military families in bad housing markets under legislation passed Friday that lawmakers said could help airmen stationed at Nellis and Creech Air Force bases.

A defense policy bill that passed in the House contained an amendment targeted to servicemembers who are transferred and forced to sell their homes in a down market.

The economic stimulus bill that passed in February 2009 authorized the Defense Department to subsidize servicemembers who receive “must move” orders during the mortgage crisis. To qualify for a subsidy, a home must have been purchased before July 1, 2006.

The problem, said Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., is that the housing crisis did not hit Southern Nevada and other parts of the country in force until after that date. Homes bought by some Nellis and Creech personnel before the Las Vegas housing bubble burst may not qualify.

Norbert Ryan, president of the Military Officers Association of America, added that summertime is when normal change of station rotations take place. Setting the eligibility at July 1, in the midst of the moving season, seemed arbitrary.

The amendment would give the Secretary of Defense the flexibility to change the qualifications in parts of the country where housing prices trended behind the national average.

The amendment was sponsored by Titus, Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif.

The change “will help servicemembers break even (or at least help reduce loss) on the sale of their homes,” said John McCauslin, chief executive officer of the Air Force Sergeants Association.