COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- It has been a rough couple of years for America's housing market, as many people watched their homes sell for significantly less than what they bought them for.

But not everyone is being left to accept their losses and move on, as a government program is helping military families who are having trouble selling their homes at a reasonable price.

"I was originally deployed in Iraq and I requested a permanent change of station from Fort Hood to Fort Carson to be part of the 4th Infantry Division, and to be closer to my home state of Wyoming," U.S. Army Capt. Jerry Frimml said.

Frimml was granted his request in April of last year and was released from combat operations. His report date at Fort Carson was just two months later in July, so during that time, Frimml put his house up for sale.

Now, a year later he said he has seen little to no movement on the house.

"Recently we had to drop the asking price, and right now I am paying the mortgage on the house in Texas and I am paying my lease on my house up here at Fort Carson," Frimml said.

Anticipating he was going to lose money on his house, Frimml decided to look into the Department of Defense's Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP), which is administered by the Army Corp of Engineers.

"The Homeowners Assistance Program was authorized by Congress in 1966 to provide financial assistance to military and civilian homeowners affected by the real estate market decline due to base realignment and closure," Scott Whiteford with the Army Corp. of Engineers said.

Then last year the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act temporarily expanded the program to assist more people.

"It expanded the eligibility to military members who are doing permanent change of station, to wounded ill and injured, to surviving spouses," Whiteford said.

Hoping he would meet the necessary requirements to receive financial help, Frimml began the application process for HAP, only to be let down as he found out quickly he did not qualify.

"I did not qualify for it because you had to have bought the house you were in prior to July 2006, and I purchased my house in April of 2007," Frimml said.

Officials with HAP said the July 2006 date was originally put into place because that is when the housing market nationwide began to spiral downward. They said it is part of a statute that they do not have the power to waive or change.

As for the second main requirement, proving the market value of one's homes, officials said that is more flexible.

"If they are using the expanded HAP all they have to show is a decline in the market value of their property, period. They do not have to prove the base closure caused that decline," Whiteford said.

Meanwhile Frimml ended up losing a significant amount of money on his home as it just recently sold. He said in talking to other soldiers, he feels not enough families are receiving help, and added maybe Congress should take a second look at some of the requirements.

"Soldiers are regular people to and they have financial struggles as well, and I want this to be announced more so soldiers can apply, and if they are denied we can find what the meat of the problem is so they can qualify and we can get soldiers assistance," Frimml said.

Since 2009 the Homeowners Assistance Program has paid benefits to more than 1,400 people totaling around $183 million.

To learn more about HAP click here.