West OC Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. - On May 12, Reps. Michelle Steel (R-CA), Susie Lee (D-NV), and David Trone (D-MD) introduced the bipartisan “Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals (VAREP) Congressional Charter Act” to grant a Congressional Charter to the VAREP, a nonprofit organization with a mission to advocate for sustainable homeownership, financial literacy education, and increasing economic opportunities for members of our Armed Forces, veterans, and their families.

This Congressional Charter would be the first specifically specialized in helping veterans to navigate their VA housing benefits and to meet their homeownership needs. This congressional charter will help expand the reach of VAREP’s services and support, while ensuring veterans have the assistance needed to fulfill dreams of home ownership.

“More than 40 percent of service members leave active service without a plan for permanent housing,” said Steel. “Veteran homelessness is a tragic and avoidable problem. After sacrificing so much for our nation, our veterans deserve better. That is why I am proud to introduce this legislation to make VAREP’s services more easily accessible to our active service members and veteran communities.”

“In 2023, every veteran should have the resources and support they need to secure permanent housing. In Congress, I’m committed to working every day to ensure that they do.” said Lee. “The Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals already provides homeownership and financial literacy education to support our veterans in southern Nevada and beyond. A congressional charter will allow them to serve veterans and their families even better, and I am proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation to do just that with Congresswoman Steel.”

“Today, homeownership among veterans is substantially less than the national average. We can and must do better,” said Trone. “By supporting resources to increase homeownership among America’s brave, we are helping our veterans gain a stronger sense of community, build wealth and credit, and provide stability for themselves and their families. This is an effort we can all get behind.”

 

Background

VAREP helps veterans in the home buying process. Their portfolio includes pre-purchase counseling, education on predatory lending claims, housing discrimination, rental counseling, foreclosures prevention, homeless prevention.

VAREP also educates active service members/Veteran on utilizing their VA Home Loan Benefit on military bases & VA Hospitals. This creates a relationship, established in trust with active military before leaving their duty station and exiting the military.

They provide live classes, housing fairs, lunch & learns, discussion panels, and housing counseling services over the phone, in-person and virtually. Finally, VAREP educates active military to build wealth by home ownership before fulfilling their military commitment.

Read the full text of the legislation here. 

Veterans 

Original source can be found here.