Sponsors (18)
Official title: To expand credentialed, personalized financial and housing counseling to members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty or transitioning from service, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 24, 2026 by Kristen McDonald Rivet · Last progress March 24, 2026
The bill gives service members personalized financial and housing counseling that can improve stability and housing choices, but it requires DoD funding, depends on external partners (risking uneven access), and adds administrative responsibilities.
Service members and veterans will receive one-on-one financial counseling (budgeting, credit, VA home loans, SCRA protections) that improves household financial stability and helps prevent debt and credit problems.
Service members (including parents/families facing PCS) will get targeted housing counseling (rental planning, HUD-certified counseling) that reduces housing instability and poor housing choices during relocations.
The Department of Defense can partner with HUD-approved agencies and 501(c)(19) veteran service organizations to deliver services, leveraging existing community expertise and access without creating new federal housing agencies.
Taxpayers and the Defense budget will incur costs because delivering one-on-one counseling requires DoD resources and possibly contractor or grant funding.
Reliance on external HUD-approved partners may produce uneven service quality or geographic gaps where local agency capacity is limited, leaving some service members underserved.
Program rollout and the new data-collection/reporting requirements could create administrative burdens for commands and counselors, diverting time from other duties.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires DoD to establish one-on-one financial and housing counseling for service members within one year and report utilization and outcomes within two years.
Requires the Secretary of Defense to set up a one-on-one financial and housing counseling program for service members within one year. The program will cover credit, budgeting, predatory-lending protections, change-of-station rental planning, VA home loan benefits, and Servicemembers Civil Relief Act protections, use partner HUD-approved and veteran service counseling organizations, allow implementing regulations, and mandate a utilization and outcomes report to Congress within two years of program startup.