Home building charity for wounded veterans questioned in lawsuit

Today’s post was shared by The Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group and comes from www.khou.com

HOUSTON — Helping a Hero in West Houston is a popular charity: 100 homes built or in the works in 22 different states, but a lawsuit is publicizing an important clause in the housing contracts. And it’s a clause one Houston-area family says it didn’t know was there until their badly wounded veteran died.

We first told Hunter LeVine’s story four years ago. The Woodlands native was blinded by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Also suffering from a traumatic brain injury and PTSD he vowed to continue living as independently as possible.

Then in December of 2011, Helping a Hero awarded him a new home in Tomball. Built through donations all Hunter had to do was take out a $50,000 mortgage and the home was his. It is the standard shared expense agreement the charity uses for all of its projects so the veterans have a financial stake in the property as well. The total value of Hunter’s new home was listed as $168,000.

But last June on a trip to Florida, Hunter died suddenly. He suffered a heart attack in his sleep. He was just 25 years old.

"Hunter was very proud of this house. It made him feel safe,” said his father Beau LeVine.

A short time later Beau LeVine says he received notice that the charity had plans for the house. They were moving to exercise a clause in the contract that the LeVines said they didn’t even know was in the paperwork.

"It was almost like the decision was made moments after his death that she just wanted to get her house…

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