Congressman wants help for transferred service members’ mortgages

By BILLY HOUSE
Media General News Service
Published: May 2, 2008

WASHINGTON - Transfers from the Tampa Bay area and other slumping housing markets nationwide are forcing military members to sell homes for thousands of dollars less than they owe on their mortgage, says a Florida congressman.

“And the current problem hits these Americans particularly hard as they have no choice but to move when issued new orders,” says Rep. C.W. Bill Young, the top Republican on the House Defense Appropriations Committee.

“I think this is happening all over the country,” said Young, in an interview Thursday.

Young says he knows the sluggish market has affected military families stationed at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, and as well as Army reservists assigned to the Army Reserve Center in Pinellas Park, in his congressional district.

Young outlined the dilemma in a letter this week to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, seeking guidance on how Congress can help.

There was no immediate comment Thursday from Gates’ office.

“This is to bring to your attention a serious problem that is affecting service members from the Tampa Bay area, as well as I am sure the entire nation, as they change duty stations and attempt to sell their homes,” Young says in his letter to Gates.

“As you know, the depressed housing market has made it difficult for homeowners to sell their homes at a price high enough to pay off their mortgages,” wrote Young.

He adds that this is especially true for service members who rotate through duty assignments on two or three year cycles and must move when issued new orders.

Some service members are even choosing to leave their families behind while they transfer to new duty stations because of the problem, he says.

Attached to Young’s letter was a memo regarding a specific group of soldiers - the 102 AR-MEDCOM—located at the reserve center in Pinellas Park, who are due to transfer out of the area.

The memo says many of the soldiers purchased homes in the area that have since devalued $40,000 to $50,000 and that “consequently these homes will not sell for what is owed to the mortgage company.”

The memo goes on to describe soldiers as having to “resort to short sales and are walking away from their homes with foreclosures looming over them.”

It adds: “Soldier’s financial records are being affected due to this situation.”

A housing assistance program is already in place to help communities and families hit by base closures and realignments.

The memo raises the possibility of whether service members now dealing with being assigned from slumping housing markets to new duty stations could also be eligible for such assistance.

“Our soldiers need your help,” the memo states.

Young tells Gates that he would be “interested in any thought you might have on this situation and in any suggestions you have on ways that the (Defense Appropriations Committee) can address this problem.

He notes that a supplemental defense spending bill is now being drafted that might be able to include housing assistance for men and women in uniform.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at or at (202) 662-7673.