House Gives Surviving VA Spouses Access to Home Loans
October 21, 2011
The House of Representatives has passed legislation that would give surviving spouses of fully disabled veterans access to VA home loans. The bill, H.R. 120, the Disabled Veterans Surviving Spouses Home Loans Act, is part of H.R. 2433, the Veterans Opportunity to Work Act, which the House overwhelmingly approved on Oct. 12 by a vote of 418 to 6. H.R. 2433 contains six pieces of veteran legislation designed to address veteran unemployment. Introduced by Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-NC, H.R. 120 aims to allay concerns of veterans with permanent and total disabilities about where their surviving spouses would live should the veteran die of causes unrelated to their military service. Under current law, a surviving spouse may qualify for a VA home loan only if the service members death is determined to be related to service disabilities. Otherwise, the surviving spouse qualifies only for ...