20,000 military members, vets faced foreclosure in 2010

More than 20,000 veterans, active-duty troops and reservists who took out special government-backed mortgages lost their homes last year — the highest number since 2003.

The rate of foreclosure filings in 2010 among 163 Zip codes located near military bases rose 32% over 2008, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure research firm. This compares with a 2010 increase in foreclosures filings nationally of 23% over 2008.

The housing crisis has hit military families particularly hard in part because of transfers and the loss of civilian jobs left behind by reservists.

About 12,000 military families applied to the Pentagon's expanded Homeowners Assistance Program. It makes up most of the difference in price for servicemembers who must transfer and sell their homes for less than they owe, or buys their houses outright.

"Our demand, in terms of (military) families coming to us for assistance, went up 19% in 2010 over the previous year," says Bill Nelson, executive director of USA Cares, a charity that provides financial assistance to Iraq and Afghanistan war-era troops.

Loans from private banks that are guaranteed by Veterans Affairs have historically outperformed other categories of mortgages, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Through programs that include mortgage counselors, the VA helped 66,000 families avoid foreclosure last year, says Mike Frueh, VA assistant director for loan and property management.

"The 20,000 could have been much higher without that help," Frueh says.

About 9,000 of some 12,000 military families who sought assistance under the Pentagon's Homeowners Assistance Program were found eligible, says Don Chapman, an assistant program manager with the Army Corps of Engineers, which administers the plan.

"I hear so many sad stories every day of people calling me and telling me why they should be eligible and why we should be helping everyone and why we should be changing these dates," Chapman says.

Former Air National Guard technical sergeant William "Tim" Wymore nearly lost his home last year in St. Charles, Mo., after his health declined following six months in Iraq.

Weak, dependant to a wheelchair and suffering chronic headaches, Wymore, 44, was forced to quit his job as a machinist. His wife, Shanna, left her job to care for him.

More than $1,800 in grants from USA Cares helped pay utilities and their mortgage. They managed to keep their home.

"There were points where we thought everything we had worked for was going to be gone," Wymore says.