Housing glut could help war wounded

[unhappycamper]

Housing glut could help war wounded
By Michelle Roberts - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jan 3, 2008 17:47:43 EST

CIBOLO, Texas — The glut of unsold houses pocking the nation’s newer neighborhoods may be just what the doctor ordered for thousands of wounded service members facing homelessness and serious financial hardships since returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, advocates say.

Operation Homefront, a nonprofit that aids the families of deployed and wounded service members, has launched what it says is a first-of-its-kind effort to match wounded soldiers with lenders and home builders to help them buy homes at prices they can afford in communities near Veterans Administration medical facilities.

“Especially with so much inventory, it seems like the perfect match,” said Meredith Leyva, co-founder of Operation Homefront.

The physical wounds suffered by the more than 30,000 service members injured in Iraq and Afghanistan are often followed by financial chaos as the families absorb extra travel and living expenses, forgo combat pay and transition to civilian life with a disability, Leyva said.

Her group, which helped 1,700 injured service members’ families pay utility bills or other living expenses last year, is seeing more families fall into bankruptcy and the threat of homelessness, she said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/ap_warwounded_080103/



uhc comment: I laud the effort to take care of our vets, but making the mortgage meltdown sound patriotic seems wrong. It sounds Rovian.