President Trump on Wednesday signed into law a measure aimed at keeping veterans from losing their homes by authorizing the Department of Veterans Affairs to take actions to prevent foreclosures.

The Senate passed the legislation earlier this month, which was a long-awaited fix after a Veterans Affairs homeowner assistance program sunsetted in May and left veterans with worse options to save their homes than Americans who never served. An estimated 61,000 veterans are in danger of losing their homes, according to the White House.

The bill will help veterans who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments by moving those missed payments to the back of their loan term, making their loan current so they can start paying again to avoid foreclosure. The missed payments will get paid down the road when they refinance, sell their home or after they’ve paid off their mortgage.

Speaking at a White House signing ceremony, Mr. Trump said the bill “helps keep our promise to end veterans’ homelessness.”

“It is common-sense legislation with overwhelming support that passed unanimously in the House and Senate. When was the last time that happened?” Mr. Trump said.

Veterans’ groups, mortgage industry executives and housing advocates all called on Congress and the Veterans Administration to come up with a replacement measure for the program that had sunsetted. In a rare show of bipartisan support, the leaders on the veterans’ affairs committees from the House and Senate released a joint statement when the bill passed two weeks ago.

“This bipartisan and bicameral legislation will assist veterans who are facing financial hardships and provide VA with a tool to better help veterans stay in their homes and avoid foreclosure,” said the statement, signed by Sens. Jerry Moran of Kansas, a Republican, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a Democrat. The letter was also signed by Republican Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois and Democratic Rep. Mark Takano of California.

A series of missteps by the government upended the Veterans Affairs’ normally stable home loan program, leaving active duty and former troops in the lurch and heading toward foreclosure.

In 2022, the Biden administration nixed the program that allowed veterans to move payments to the back of their loan term. The Biden administration said the program was sunsetting anyway and they didn’t have the authority to extend it.

The move left thousands staring down foreclosure, and Veterans Affairs called on mortgage companies to halt foreclosures while it rolled out a rescue program titled the VA Servicing Purchase program, or VASP.

VASP was in place and helped some veterans from facing foreclosure, but Veterans Affairs Administrator Doug Collis canceled the program, saying it created too much risk for taxpayers. The program allowed Veterans Affairs to buy up the troubled loans and roll the missed payments into a new loan with a 2.5% interest rate.

Mr. Collins and others said the program put taxpayer money at risk because the VA holds the new loans on its own books.

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.