My husband lost his job about 2 yrs ago he had a defined benefit plan not a 401k can he take money to buy a house?we have new owner in the community we live in and we have to upgrade our home here or move!! Thanks

By "defined benefit" plan I assume you mean a traditional pension plan - is that right?

The rules for getting money from a pension are governed by the pension plan documentation - your husband can call the HR department at his former employer and ask. Generally speaking, if he didn't actually retire at the time he left the company, he will have to wait until age 65 to start collecting on his pension.

However, they may offer an option to roll the current cash value of his pension to a roll-over IRA, but again ask the HR department. If this option exists, he could roll the value to an IRA, and then get access to the money through the normal IRA distribution rules - i.e.. No penalty if he is at least 59-1/2 years old; 10% penalty if less than 59-1/2 years old (with some exceptions).