Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Trump's VA is ending a rescue program that's saved 17,000 military veterans' homes
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said Thursday that it will end a mortgage-rescue program designed to help veterans who have fallen behind on their mortgages keep their homes.
But the scant details offered so far by the VA make it unclear whether the program will be replaced by a different rescue program — or whether the move will strand thousands of other vets, many of whom are in financial peril because of the VA's own mistakes.
Tens of thousands of veterans were left facing foreclosure after the VA abruptly cancelled a key part of a pandemic-era mortgage relief program that allowed vets to skip mortgage payments if they had trouble paying. When NPR first uncovered the VA's move in late 2023, there were about 40,000 vets in danger of losing their homes.
The VA responded by halting foreclosures for a full year while it rolled out a rescue plan. That rescue plan, called VASP, has now put 17,109 veterans and their families into new, low-interest-rate, affordable mortgages, according to the VA.
In a statement to NPR Thursday, the VA said it was ending the VASP program. "Beginning May 1, 2025, VA's Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase Program [VASP]... will stop accepting new enrollees," it said. "This change is necessary because VA is not set up or intended to be a mortgage loan restructuring service."
But the scant details offered so far by the VA make it unclear whether the program will be replaced by a different rescue program — or whether the move will strand thousands of other vets, many of whom are in financial peril because of the VA's own mistakes.
Tens of thousands of veterans were left facing foreclosure after the VA abruptly cancelled a key part of a pandemic-era mortgage relief program that allowed vets to skip mortgage payments if they had trouble paying. When NPR first uncovered the VA's move in late 2023, there were about 40,000 vets in danger of losing their homes.
The VA responded by halting foreclosures for a full year while it rolled out a rescue plan. That rescue plan, called VASP, has now put 17,109 veterans and their families into new, low-interest-rate, affordable mortgages, according to the VA.
In a statement to NPR Thursday, the VA said it was ending the VASP program. "Beginning May 1, 2025, VA's Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase Program [VASP]... will stop accepting new enrollees," it said. "This change is necessary because VA is not set up or intended to be a mortgage loan restructuring service."
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/03/nx-s1-5351768/trumps-va-is-ending-a-rescue-program-thats-saved-17-000-military-veterans-homes