HAP Military Housing Assistance Program

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 who became ill when deployed, surviving spouses of service members or DOD employees who have been killed or died of their wounds while deployed, service members and civilian employees assigned to BRAC 05 organizations, and service members required to permanently relocate during the home mortgage crisis.
Several years ago the Department of Defense rolled out the Housing Assistance Program (HAP) for service personnel that were relocated due to Base Realignment and Closures (BRAC). Due to the overwhelming mortgage crisis in the past years, that program is now being expanded, and you may be eligible to receive financial relief if you’re moving due to permanent reassignment!
The guidelines for HAP have been revised to also include:

Military personnel with PCS orders who are unable to sell their homes
Wounded warriors required to relocate for medical reasons, and
Surviving spouses of fallen service members

Who Is Now Eligible?

Eligibility requirements for the expanded HAP program are:
- Permanent reassignment requires a move of more than 50 miles.
- Reassignment ordered between 1 February 2006 and 30 September 2012 (or earlier date designated by Secretary of Defense).
- Property purchased (or contract to purchase signed) before 1 July 2006.
- Property sold by owner between 1 July 2006 and 30 September 2012 (or earlier date designated by Secretary of Defense)
- Property was the primary residence of the owner
- Owner has not previously received these benefit payments.

What Does This Mean?

Essentially the DOD will reimburse up to 95% of any loss on the sale of your home, provided the home was originally purchased before July 1, 2006. The DOD may also elect to purchase your home from you for up to 90% of its current value.
Unfortunately, the DOD has not yet released the detailed compensation guidelines, so they will not be approving any applications just yet. However, they are recommending that any Military Personnel who may be eligible should submit their applications ASAP.

How do I apply?

In order to apply for the HAP program ,all you have to do is go to the Hap Website and download the application form.