TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Samba Jargu walked into his house in Corona de Tucson on Sunday breathing a sigh of relief. He was finally home after a long day, but in the back of his mind he was thinking about having to pay for his house.
While serving he was exposed to toxic chemicals and burn pits in the U.S. and abroad, leaving him disabled with at least 19 conditions such as heart failure and thyroid he lost.
After serving he became homeless for weeks at a time.
He does not fall under the current Arizona law’s property tax exemption for veterans.
The current law says only veterans who lived in Arizona prior to entering the service are allowed the state's property tax exemption.
Jargu moved from Virginia and was not in the service before he started living in Arizona, so he doesn't qualify.
“It’s extremely disappointing. This happens to a lot of people,” Jargu said.
Proposition 130 is on the ballot for the midterms and would extend property tax exemptions to all disabled veterans who live in Arizona.
He said getting assurance with housing can take years and said he has been denied a few times.
He said Proposition 130 is a start but said Arizona needs even more exemptions for disabled veterans.
“If we can have a proposition go through that makes it official that if you are a veteran and you live in this state, you will not have to worry about property taxes...that’s major,” Jargu said.
Proposition 130 would also give exemptions to all widows and widowers, but he said he’d like to see it extended to other family members
“There’s a lot of dependents who lose both parents,” he said.
His friend Joseph Ketterer is also a disabled Navy veteran who lives with hearing loss. He also doesn’t qualify for the current veteran property tax exemption.
“We can’t continue to restrict veterans and require them to pay more out of their restricted budget just so they can live in a house,” Ketterer said.
He said Prop 130 would help include veterans that have been disqualified for years.
“So that we as veterans can have that little bit of proposition needed so the disabilities aren’t so capitalistic,” Ketterer said.
However, even if prop 130 does pass, Jargu and Ketterer said the fight is not over. They’d like to see Arizona legislators address issues faced by homeless veterans.
“Programs like this need to be fleshed out, propositions like this need to be passed. But we need to make sure they’re done right,” Jargu said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.