{"id":78550,"date":"2021-01-06T03:21:58","date_gmt":"2021-01-06T03:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/01\/06\/new-law-expands-va-loan-eligibility-for-guard-covid-19-vets\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:41:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:41:46","slug":"new-law-expands-va-loan-eligibility-for-guard-covid-19-vets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/education-transition\/2021\/01\/06\/new-law-expands-va-loan-eligibility-for-guard-covid-19-vets\/","title":{"rendered":"New law expands VA loan eligibility for Guard, COVID-19 vets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Early career National Guard troops who supported COVID-19 response this year may soon be eligible for Veterans Affairs home loan benefits, thanks to a provision in this year\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/116th-congress\/house-bill\/7105\/text#toc-H441CAF58735344AE83D49ABB9B7D9067\">Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Donald Trump signed the legislation on Jan. 5, narrowly avoiding an accidental \u201cpocket veto.\u201d Had he not signed it today, the measure would not have become law unless the new Congress passed similar legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the legislation becomes law, Guard troops who have served at least 90 days of qualifying Title 32 active duty service, including a stint of at least 30 days, will be newly eligible for the loan. The expanded eligibility is applied retroactively, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tens of thousands of Guard members logged qualifying service in 2020 as part of the nationwide COVID-19 response. At the mission\u2019s peak on May 12, 47,100 Guard troops were on Title 32 orders for pandemic response, according to National Guard Bureau data shared with Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">National Guard troops could only become eligible for the VA loan benefit in one of two ways, according to the VA website: 90 days of federal active-duty service or six years of retirement-creditable service in the Guard or another reserve component of the military. Only Title 10 orders \u2013\u2013 which come in the event of a federal mobilization for deployment \u2013\u2013 counted towards the 90 day threshold, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now that has changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bill is \u201cCongress\u2019 recognition that the benefits gap [between full-time National Guard duty and active duty] is no longer appropriate,\u201d said John Goheen, communications director for the National Guard Association of the United States, in a phone interview with Military Times. He argued that the benefits need \u201cto be more reflective of what the nation is asking of its guardsmen and reservists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NGAUS <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ngaus.org\/about-ngaus\/newsroom\/legislation-would-expand-access-va-home-loans\">previously made<\/a> the home loan eligibility expansion a legislative priority for the group, which advocates on behalf of Guard troops on Capitol Hill. A bipartisan group of legislators had introduced a bill seeking to expand eligibility earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cVA is ready to ensure that members of the National Guard who qualify with expanded eligibility requirements will have access to their home loan benefits,\u201d said Susan Carter, director of the VA\u2019s office of media relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPractically speaking, the change means that thousands more National Guard personnel will qualify for the VA home loan,\u201d said Dr. Dwight Stirling, CEO of the <a href=\"https:\/\/centerforlaw.org\/\" target=_blank>Center for Law and Military Policy<\/a> and a former California National Guard judge advocate general. \u201cFull-time National Guard service is fundamentally no different from federal service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the VA did not have an estimate of how many Guard troops would become newly eligible for the benefit, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/system\/files\/2020-09\/hr7445.pdf\">Congressional Budget Office projected<\/a> that \u201croughly 2,000 more [Guard troops] would obtain loan guarantees over the next 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Does my Title 32 service make me eligible for the VA loan?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the legislation, qualifying Title 32 service must have been active-duty periods completed under sections <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/32\/316\">316<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/32\/502\">502<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/32\/503\">503<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/32\/504\">504<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/32\/505\">505<\/a> of the federal law. At least one of the periods of service must have been for more than 30 days, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of this year\u2019s National Guard COVID-19 response has been under Title 32 502(f) orders, with tens of thousands of troops surpassing the 90-day threshold necessary to qualify under the new legislation, and thousands more logging at least 31 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Time spent on orders for initial military training does not count even under the new law, but other schools do count, so long as the orders were issued under the applicable sections of Title 32.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The eligibility expansion also means that periods of annual training orders \u2013\u2013 most of which are under section 503 of Title 32 \u2013\u2013 can count towards the VA loan, as long as the service member has completed at least one order of more than 30 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, under the new law, a Guard member who has completed an 89-day Title 32 order for coronavirus response \u2014 as some did, due to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/05\/20\/early-end-date-for-guard-coronavirus-deployment-draws-criticism-from-veterans-in-congress\/\" target=_blank>a political kerfuffle over extending Title 32 authorizations<\/a> in summer 2020 \u2014 is eligible for the VA home loan benefit if they have completed even one day of annual training in their career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThose shorter training periods would count towards the 90-day threshold,\u201d said Samantha Gonzales, director of strategic communications for the House Veterans Affairs Committee, in an email to Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA officials told Military Times that they would allow troops to document their shorter periods of service \u2013\u2013 for which they frequently do not receive discharge papers \u2014 using documents such as retirement point statements and copies of \u201capplicable military orders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cVA will evaluate all available information related to eligibility,\u201d said Carter, director of VA\u2019s Office of Media Relations, in an email to Military Times shortly before Trump signed the bill. \u201cIf HR7105 is signed, VA is prepared to quickly provide guidance to staff to make [eligibility] determinations for members of the National Guard\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMembers of the National Guard can visit <a href=\"https:\/\/nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.va.gov%2Fhousing-assistance%2Fhome-loans%2Feligibility%2F&#038;data=04%7C01%7Cdavis.winkie%40militarytimes.com%7C19396ed47f6b423d97aa08d8ad0696be%7C1d5c96e57ee2446dbed8d0f8c50edea5%7C1%7C0%7C637449591115768669%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&#038;sdata=rMXwijfFYFW2BJ7wQtgxv62XVA6nFpj%2Bk5r364uW8Gk%3D&#038;reserved=0\">https:\/\/www.va.gov\/housing-assistance\/home-loans\/eligibility\/<\/a> for information on eligibility,\u201d she added. \u201cThe site will be updated after the bill is enacted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Disclosure: The author of this article, Davis Winkie, is a member of NGAUS.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many National Guard troops who completed COVID-19 orders in 2020 are now eligible for the VA loan. Are you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":74953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[9,143,29,116,117,15,35,86,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3456],"class_list":["post-78550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-transition","category-good-news-report","category-home","category-left-column","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"CGSBS3NOLNE5XJLVM3WHTVA5XQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/pay-benefits\/military-benefits\/2021\/01\/05\/new-law-expands-va-loan-eligibility-for-guard-covid-19-vets\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New law expands VA loan eligibility for Guard, COVID-19 vets - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many National Guard troops who completed COVID-19 orders in 2020 are now eligible for the VA loan. 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