Veterans: Home loan program is good public policy
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This month, the West Virginia Veterans' Home Loan program launches, after passage of state Senate Bill 261 earlier this year. The program will help eligible veterans purchase their first homes. In this real estate climate, any help they can get will be significant.
Republican State Treasurer Riley Moore, state Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, and representatives of the West Virginia Housing Development Fund were on hand to talk about the Sept. 12 launch in Weirton earlier this week.
(Moore is running for the U.S. House West Virginia 2nd District seat in November, and Weld is unopposed in his quest to retain the state Senate seat for District 1.)
The West Virginia Housing Development Fund will administer the program, which is for veterans who are first-time homebuyers. Affordable housing has become so difficult to come by lately, that could be a large number of Mountain State residents eligible for a reduced-interest loan.
There are other requirements, and hoops to jump through, but that's no surprise to anyone who's tried to purchase a home. On the other hand, the purchase limit is generous at $350,000, and there is no income limit.
In discussing the program, Weld said the idea came from similar legislation in Montana.
"In legislation, sometimes, it's OK to plagiarize from programs that have worked," Weld said.
That's an important point, as lawmakers are increasingly getting their marching orders from organizations that DO provide template legislation to be pitched in statehouses across the country. It's important to be looking for programs that WORK.
This one appears to be a step in the right direction. It is building on a successful program in another state and building on success already realized by the West Virginia Housing Development Fund.
Lawmakers are to be commended for making it happen -- and reminded that tested and proven ideas are a better starting point for good public policy than extreme, agenda-driven nonsense from the far fringes of the political spectrum.