Washington, D.C. – To prevent a pending expiration of foreclosure protection for military homeowners, Representatives (R) Stephen Fincher (TN-8) and (D) Denny Heck (WA-10) introduced the “Stability for Service Members Act“.
Rep. Fincher (R) said “A slow recovering economy and real estate market have hit our nation’s military personnel especially hard as they transition out of active duty and seek new employment opportunities. Many of these folks are facing the threat of eviction from or foreclosure on their home.”
In 2012, Congress extended the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act protection against foreclosure for military personnel from three months to a year post-military service to help give service members time to get on their feet financially and avoid the stress of potentially losing their home. Existing law currently
protects servicemembers from foreclosure for one year after they leave active duty, but the law is set to expire at the end of this year.
“Our men and women in uniform are the best in the world, willingly putting their lives on the lines to protect our freedoms every day. The least we can do for them is ensure they don’t lose their home when they leave active duty service.” Fincher added.
Rep Heck (D) said, “We’re making progress on reducing veteran unemployment, but we’re not even close to being where we need to be when it comes to housing protections,” Heck said. “The truth is volunteering to protect our country can make servicemembers vulnerable to foreclosure, and we need to recognize and acknowledge that risk by passing laws that prevent our heroes from losing their homes.”
According to Fincher, Financial challenges still exist for many service members, particularly those re-acclimating to civilian life after serving abroad. Extending this one-year protection from foreclosure time frame for an additional one-year will provide uniform treatment for service members for an additional year and avoid confusion among service members that could result if the time frame reverts to three months.
