Military personnel and their families with VA home loans are not immune to the housing crisis, but efforts are being made to help them avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes.

The Department of Defense Homeowners Assistance Program was formed to help servicemen and women in the military sell their homes if the value of their homes declines due to base closings or readjustments. In 2009, it was expanded to assist military personnel and their families if DOD employees are killed or injured while deployed.

The program covers the difference between 95 percent of the home’s appraised value before the base closing announcement and the appraised value or sales price after the announcement. The government can also buy the property for 75 percent of the original price or pay off the mortgage. However, the program does not help service personnel if the value of their homes has dropped due to the housing bubble.

Some 12,000 families applied for help through the program, according to a USA Today article. More than 20,000 veterans, active duty military personnel and reservists with VA home loans lost their homes to foreclosure last year, the most since 2003.

Citing figures from RealtyTrac, the newspaper said foreclosures in zip codes near military bases were up 32 percent between 2008 and 2010. Nationally, foreclosures were up 23 percent.

USA Cares, a nonprofit group, provides grants to financially challenged service men and women. “While the mortgage and real estate crisis has affected all Americans, military families with fewer options have been disproportionately affected,” the group states on its website.

VA home loans can provide important benefits. Veterans, as well as active-duty personnel, reservists, and National Guardsmen, can use government-backed mortgages to purchase a home with no down payment. Home loans with no down payment can be up to $417,000, up to $729,725 in high-cost areas.

Veterans can also use VA home loans to refinance their current mortgage at current mortgage rates, although mortgage amounts are limited to $144,000.

Borrowers pay a VA financing fee up front, but that fee may be included in the total amount of the mortgage or paid by the seller, and the borrower does not pay for private mortgage insurance. Home loans are made through government approved lenders and are guaranteed by the government.