By Forum Staff
Congresswomen Grace Meng (D-Flushing) and Nicole Malliotakis (R-Brooklyn/Staten Island) recently announced the introduction of the Fair Access to Co-Ops for Veterans Act, a bipartisan bill to make it easier for veterans in Queens and across the nation to purchase co-ops.
The legislation would expand the Veterans Home Loan Guarantee program to include co-ops, allowing the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs to guarantee co-op loans taken out by veterans. The bill would also direct the VA to advertise this co-op program to eligible veterans, participating lenders, and interested realtors.
The legislation comes as Meng last month testified in support of the bill before the House Veteran Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity.
“The VA home loan program has been a transformative benefit for servicemembers for 80 years,” Meng said during the hearing on Capitol Hill. “But this program cannot be fully enjoyed by New Yorkers who served in our armed forces. In New York City about two in three apartment buildings are co-ops…Co-ops on average are more affordable in New York than condos or homes. They offer a realistic way for New Yorkers to own their place and build equity. Currently, a veteran or service member can use their VA home loan to purchase a condo, a townhome, a mobile home, or a manufactured home, but not a co-op. It is our job to serve those who serve us. So, let’s serve them by increasing the accessibility of homeownership to more veterans…Let’s give veterans and servicemembers access to co-ops.”
In 2006 Congress passed a bill creating a five-year pilot program allowing veterans to purchase cooperative housing. Prior to this legislation the VA Home Loans program could not be used for co-ops. However, the pilot program expired in 2011 and has not been renewed since.
The Veterans Home Loan Guarantee program helps veterans, servicemembers, and eligible surviving spouses become homeowners. Through the program, loans are provided by private lenders with the VA guaranteeing up to 50 percent, allowing the lender to offer more favorable terms.
“With co-ops accounting for roughly a quarter of the housing market in New York City, it’s critically important that we ensure access to these properties for our veterans who’ve sacrificed so much for our nation,” said Malliotakis. “I’m proud to join Rep. Meng in introducing this bipartisan legislation to make co-ops available for VA home loans, expand affordable housing options for our veterans and make their post-service lives a little bit easier.”
“The VFW supports the Fair Access to Co-Ops for Veterans Act to extend the VA home lean to veterans seeking to purchase residential cooperative housing or co-op,” Kristina Keenan, deputy director of National Legislative Service at the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said during the House hearing. “Most of the co-op housing in the United States is located in New York, which has statistically lower rates of veteran homeownership. We have worked with the New York City Department of Veteran Affairs, which brought this issue to our attention. Expanding VA home loans to include co-ops would help provide long-term housing stability for more veterans around the country.”
