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Veterans Foreclosure Crisis

Closing the gap that puts veterans out of their homes

The record

They Were Warned

From 2024 to 2026, hearing witnesses, mortgage-industry representatives, consumer lawyers and members of Congress repeatedly warned that veterans could face foreclosure.

About this record

Six documented warnings are shown below, oldest first. Each identifies who gave the warning, who received it, what happened next and the supporting source.

Related record

The fiscal case tracks 14 dated warnings and developments from March 2025 through July 2026.

Part 1 of 3

In 2024 and 2025, hearing witnesses and the mortgage industry warned before VA ended VASP

HEARING

On February 15, 2024, witnesses told a House subcommittee about the partial claim gap and the foreclosure risk behind it

Three months before VASP opened, the exposure was already on the record.

DOCUMENTED FACT At a House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity hearing on February 15, 2024, witnesses raised the partial claim gap and the foreclosure exposure behind it, three months before VASP opened. S056

What VA's John Bell III told the subcommittee about VASP at the same hearing is on the watch page.

DOCUMENTED FACT VASP opened May 31, 2024. VA ended it effective May 1, 2025, on about eight days' notice. S011

TESTIMONY

On March 11, 2025, the Mortgage Bankers Association told Congress the answer was foreclosure

Seven weeks before VA ended VASP, the industry said what would happen without it.

DOCUMENTED FACT Testifying to the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity on March 11, 2025, the Mortgage Bankers Association's Elizabeth Balce was asked what happens without the rescue program. S009

"The short answer is foreclosure. Period."

Elizabeth Balce, Mortgage Bankers Association, House VA Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, March 11, 2025

DOCUMENTED FACT VA ended VASP effective May 1, 2025, on about eight days' notice. S011

The fiscal case tracks 14 dated warnings and developments from March 2025 through July 2026, at Nobody can say they weren't warned.

Part 2 of 3

From March to June 2026, a subcommittee chairman, consumer lawyers and 28 members of Congress repeated the warning

HEARING

On March 26, 2026, Chairman Van Orden asked VA for its word that it would not foreclose, and the transcript shows no answer

A subcommittee chairman asked VA to promise it would not foreclose. The transcript moves on without one.

DOCUMENTED FACT At a House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity hearing on March 26, 2026, Rep. Derrick Van Orden, chairing the subcommittee, put a direct question to Patrick Zondervan, Executive Director of VA's Loan Guaranty Service. S255 S245

"I want to guarantee that you are not going to foreclose on any single veterans if you have the ability to do so until this partial claims gets done. Okay? If that is in your power, I need to know that. Then I want your word if you can do that."

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, Chairman, HVAC Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, to Patrick Zondervan, March 26, 2026

DOCUMENTED FACT No answer follows in the printed transcript. The hearing moves to Ranking Member Pappas and then to a second panel. The partial claim opened 81 days later, on June 15, 2026. S255

The same exchange is in the commitments and demands record on the watch page.

TESTIMONY

On March 26, 2026, the National Consumer Law Center told a House subcommittee over 30,000 veterans would face higher payments

Before the policy was final, a consumer lawyer estimated how many families would pay more under it.

DOCUMENTED FACT At the same hearing, Alys Cohen of the National Consumer Law Center testified to the subcommittee. S003 S255

"Of the roughly 90,000 VA borrowers who are seriously delinquent on their loan today, we estimate that over 30,000 will face a payment increase."

Alys Cohen, National Consumer Law Center, HVAC Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, March 26, 2026

DOCUMENTED FACT VA published its final partial claim policy on June 1, 2026 and opened the program on June 15, 2026. S006

LETTER

On May 26, 2026, 28 members of Congress told VA it would be cruel to foreclose before the partial claim was ready

Twenty-eight House members asked VA in writing to pause foreclosures, and to explain itself if it would not.

DOCUMENTED FACT Rep. Chris Pappas led 27 colleagues, 28 signers in all, in a letter to VA on May 26, 2026 demanding a targeted foreclosure moratorium until the Partial Claim Program was fully operational, with a written response required by June 2, 2026. S015

"If a veteran has a reasonable opportunity to have their home saved through the [Partial Claim Program] under development, it would be cruel to foreclose on that veteran today."

Rep. Chris Pappas and 27 colleagues, letter to VA, May 26, 2026

DOCUMENTED FACT The letter put the number of veterans who had already lost their homes at more than 10,000. Six days earlier, on May 20, 2026, Sen. Richard Blumenthal had told the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee the number was more than 15,000. S015 S001

STATEMENT

On the day the partial claim opened, the same consumer law center renewed its warning

It asked VA to pause foreclosures until families could actually use the program.

DOCUMENTED FACT On June 15, 2026, the day VA's Partial Claim Program opened, the National Consumer Law Center published a release renewing its demand that VA direct servicers to hold off foreclosing until the program was actually operational, not just announced. S120

"VA Must Pause Foreclosures Until New Mortgage Assistance Program Is Accessible"

National Consumer Law Center, release title, June 15, 2026

DOCUMENTED FACT VA gave servicers until November 28, 2026 to have the program working. S006

Part 3 of 3

The longer list and the full notice record are on three other pages

Where the rest of the warnings are recorded

Each link goes to the fuller record, so nothing is written twice.