Why didn’t you tell me that some of our military housing would be a bit … sub-par? I mean, I don’t want to gripe too much because it is, after all, a roof over my family. But our current housing leaves a lot to be desired.
My husband is in the Air Force. I met him in Great Falls, Montana where he was stationed at Malmstrom AFB. The first couple of houses we lived in on base were OK. Nothing swanky, but nothing below what I thought someone in our armed services deserves. We never had a problem with maintenance. They were always friendly and fixed whatever it was we needed fixed in a timely manner.
At one point the base started a new housing project. They slowly tore down all the old housing and replaced it with shiny new houses. They were unbelievable! The last house I lived in had vaulted ceilings in the kitchen and dinning room. A sitting room and a living room. Downstairs bathroom, huge laundry room connected to a huge garage, three bedrooms a nd a bathroom upstairs. Had this been a house off base I would have bought it!
Not too long ago we got orders to Patrick AFB in Cocoa Beach, Fla. I am appalled at the housing here! They knowingly have rat problems in the homes, cockroach problems (I guess in the south they call them Palmetto Bugs, lets not get it twisted, a cockroach is a cockroach no matter what type of fancy-shmancy name you give it), ants, ticks, spider problems.
And I don’t mean just the occasional sighting. No matter what you do you can never get a hold on these things. Every person I have talked to who resides in these homes hates it. If we felt it was safer to live off base we all would. It is not exactly a great area.
The problem that I am seeing is that since military housing became privatized, no one seems to care. It seems like the Housing Office does not care about its tenants and all we are to them is a paycheck. We feel as though the Air Force has washed it hands of the housing situations and no longer care that its men and women are living in conditions no better than low income housing.
From what I have heard from friends at other bases I am not alone here. I know that there are budget considerations, but I feel as though our men and women in the United States military need to be treated well and that goes for their housing conditions. I am not asking that they give them giant mansions, or even homes equally as large as the commander’s home.
I’m just asking not to be living on a crumbling foundation and to deal with a Housing Office that cares that our men and women in uniform can come back to a nice home with ample room, take their boots off and relax. And if they could do that without rats and bugs, so much the better.
Amber Baxter is an Air Force wife currently stationed in Florida.
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I will second that. And add…the wait times for housing at some installations are beyond fathomable and pose a significant strain on military families. Case in point, we moved this summer to Ft Drum…the wait time for senior enlisted housing is 24+ months and the housing available on the economy is truly disgraceful. If you have ever been to this area you know what I am talking about. Here I sit, typing from the upstairs apartment of what can best be described as a crack house in Watertown…and the rental rate is notoriously: What is your husband's BAH, again?
On the other side of things, we are stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska and we have fabulous housing. Our house is huge, beautiful, and well-maintained. I have never had a problem with the housing office or maintenance and they have always been kind and helpful. I know that not all housing companies are like that, we have dealt with some crappy ones as well. At Fort Irwin, for instance, they have you over a barrel and they know it, because the nearest town is 45 minutes away, nobody wants to make that drive. We had nothing but problems there. BUT, not all housing sucks. :-)
We lived in Company grade housing at Wainwright, and it was very nice. We had no problems and we were lucky enough to have one of the few homes that had a basement in that housing area. We have also lived in 4 different houses at Fort Irwin (having been stationed there 3 times, soon to be 4 this coming summer). We lived in the post WWII era housing there as lower enlisted/jr NCO, and yes, it left something to be desired. However, at that time the government was still running things and it was very well maintained for being what it was. And yes, we had to hire someone to clean those two homes because the requirements were so high. It was worth the $400. lol Our third time there was in Company grade housing which was brand new and it is very nice. We never had a bit of problems with housing or maintenance personally. We chose to clean those two home (we lived in two our third time there) with no problems on clearing. Like I said we are again on our way there , this time we will be in field grade housing. While I know the neighborhood, and do like it, the housing is older, and we were told it is hit and miss as for what kind of upgrades the houses have. They only change things as needed. So, if the stove from 1985 is ok, it's still there. But, NOTHING could be worse then the old housing at Fort Rucker. We lived in a S*&%hole for 6 months. It was disgusting. We had to fight to be moved from that place and it was only after a sewage pipe broke they agreed. Telling us it was a choice adn we had to pay for it. We could have fought that, but we just wanted to be out of there so we moved ourselves. That housing office has been by far the worst to work with in the past 20 years. It really is hit or miss on the housing. Some places the best housing is lower enlisted, some it's field grade. Unfortunately not everyone is going to be happy with every house they get at every duty station if they stay in long enough.
We lived in new housing at Irwin. The house itself was nice, but rather cheaply built. Doors kept falling off, and things like that. But the housing company itself was terrible. Took them three weeks to come out and fix my fence that blew down in a windstorm – my backyard was open to the main road and I did FCC. Not a good combination. Of course if they had used something besides staples to put the fence up in the first place, it might not have blown down. :-) They wanted to charge us a ridiculous amount of money to clear, even though the house was in perfect condition when we left. We fought it and we won, and paid nothing, but it makes me wonder how many junior soldiers are being railroaded when they leave. Everywhere else we've been has been fine. Wainwright is by far the best.
we dont live in housing and havent for 11 years, the last 2 duty stations were horrible, we lived in carlisle barracks pa and were told not to put anything wood in our storage area or the termites would eat it and then we went to germany we lived in stairwell housing we were on the 3rd floor and the had barracks above us ont he 4th floor, imagine living with smaill children below single soilders. i swore i would never live in houseing again, and never might the wait when we got to ft bragg the wait was 4 years needless to say we bought this time
I agree…after two years we finally got a house on base at ft. campbell…it's not too bad, but when two weeks in the light fixture comes off the ceiling and shatters and slices your kids arm open, and housing just says oh yea that's common…really makes you wonder what their priority is…if its a common problem why not get diff fixtures or something.
I couldn't believe the difference in housing between the two duty stations we were at in Germany. Luckily we were in the not so nice place first. When we moved I was in shock at how different it was.
The military housing situation seems less than favorable for those that serve our country, I am very disappointed in that. Is there any way you could purchase a home and live off-base?
Housing prices are at an all time low and rates are unbelievably low as well. If you are going to be in the area for at least three years it might be an option.
I have known a lot of people who have gone that route. But with doing that you also take the chance of having to sell your home if you PCS. The reason while homes are so cheap right now is because they housing market is falling apart. People cant make payments on homes, homes get forclosed on, sold cheap. I have also had friends who have tried selling their homes but had to put them up for way less than what they were buying it for, and still be responsible for the balance. The point is our military personnel should not have to be dealing with that kind of stress. They should not have to get to a base, examine the housing, and then say "Id rather put myself through the stress of buying and selling a home than live in this garbage!!!!" I have a relative who lives in nasty section 8 housing in a horrible area of California, and her home is nicer looking and better taken care of than the garbage I am living in now. How is that fair? A woman who refuses to work because she is lazy so she drains the system gets to live in a better home than our men and women who sacrifice so much to defend and make safe our country?
I hear you on that! While living in El Paso, TX we made the mistake of buying. Huge mistake, but with the ridiculous housing we had when we got there and thinking we would be there for awhile, we did it. We couldn't sell and ended up foreclosing. That is our mistake. I knew a person there that decided she didn't want to work. Faked a back injury so she could get HUD housing, she had criminal and drug charges lived off the state, and laughed about it all. What pissed me off was her house was so beautiful. Not just nice, but beautiful! Yet the military housing was old and falling apart, the new post houses that were off post were so small you couldn't put but maybe the bare essentials. I know that its not exactly the same scenario, but there is still something wrong when housing is that good for some lazy don't want to work live off the tax payers compared to what our Service Members get for housing. When we left they were building what looked to be some really nice houses, but I've been told that they may as well be made of cardboard. I defiantly do not recommend buying not only based off my experience but my brothers experience and a friends. It's just not worth it. Yet sometimes military housing isn't either. We can't win.
I worked for housing at Fort Bragg and I can tell you we CARED a lot about our families, most everyone working for housing is retired or an active duty spouse. I am sorry, but in Florida (or NC, SC, GA, MS, LA…) you get bugs. No matter what. They are part of living in the south. I hate them too, but unfortunately even bombing doesnt always help. Ask your privatized housing office for a list of what was required of residents pre-privatized housing when the Army was in charge and I bet everyone stops complaining. No pools, no clubhouses, no resident events, no 24 hour maintenance, no getting your grass cut….Don't live on base if you don't like it!
It's more than bugs. Everyone understand that it happens. The complaints are that housing lets these houses go to shambles. Maybe the bug problem would not be so bad if the foundations of the houses were not sinking, leaving cracks in the baseboards that provide more entry ways to letting bugs in. Or when I pointed out that I clearly have water damage upstairs in my hall way from before I moved in and when I point this out they tell me its no problem. I'm sorry but I think the fact that when I step on that spot and it sinks a bit is a slight problem. And trust me, housing knows about this. Or the water damage under my sink and bottom cupboards. When I moved in there was mold growing in them. The maintenance man simple put caulking over the mold and called it good. I've lived in housing before it was privatized and I never had a problem with people getting things done and the base I was at before knew when the houses were too old and crumbling that they needed to be torn down. After moving to a different base there is a difference in night and day. Maybe you did care about your tenants, but the office here could care less. It is not unfair to ask that the housing be decent for its members. Clearly this isn't the opinion of one person. The responses above prove that, and the many people those people know. Its pretty callous of you to tell people if they don't like living on base then to move. It almost sounds like you think we should just all shut up and stop boo hoo'ing because we should be "lucky" enough to even have a house. All anyone wants is exceptionable housing for the people that put on a uniform every day. No one is asking for some giant $400k style home here! Just a home where the walls aren't caving in, the floors aren't sinking, the foundations are sturdy, and we feel safe. I do not think that is too much to ask for.
Maybe there at Ft.Bragg that's the case, but that's not the case everywhere. I have never lived in housing that had pools, clubhouses, resident events and definitely no 24 hour maintenance, unless it was a serious emergency, that was done when the Army still ran it too. That's 7 different stations, all privatized, and Im going off our personal experiences, I'm not going to bring up issues others have. Yeah the front yard gets mowed, half assed. Never in any of these stations were retired or active duty spouses working either, all civilians, by the contractors company. Its true you don't have to clean very well before you move now, those standards were lowered, but when the Army ran housing it was NOT worse then now, if anything things actually got done. So before you start with, don't like it don't live there, look beyond where you are at, because that is not the case. If anything you are the minority.
Last duty station was Ft.Bliss, the housing was ridiculous! We were literally stuffed into the tiniest 4 bedroom you had ever seen. I know, you'd think 4 bedrooms can't be that bad, but it was. You couldn't fit more then a bed and small dresser into a room, never mind toys. The master bedroom barely fit a queen bed, dresser and bassinet. The only storage was a small closet and This was a new house! I was about to have another baby and since the wait list for a bigger house was over 3years we made the mistake of buying. After dealing with weeks of waiting on orders for many things to be fixed, cause each thing had to have its own order and was done on its own day, the size (like why bother building a 4 bedroom if everything is miniaturized) we figured we'd go for it since we would be there for awhile. That changed after a few years for a number of reasons(none of which I'll bore you with),but we had to foreclose. Yes that is on Us not the Military. Now here we are in joint base housing in Hawaii in the same situation. Is what really gets to my husband is after 18 years he's made some rank and thought we would be in Senior NCO housing, as promised by housing before we PCSd(they had our date of arrival, copies of orders everything).They even sent us 2 different layouts of houses we would be offered when we got here. Nope! Yet again, we are in the smallest house in this housing area, with the highest rank. I personally don't care about the rank, but I can understand why he has a problem with it. Is what really bothers me the amount we pay for this little house. We want to and may go ahead and move off base, one issue is I have a tumor on my adrenal gland, something that has caused one heart attack already, living here he is maybe 5min from home, so when health issues arise he is here quickly. I know that part is a personal issue, but the fact that we pay about $3200 while my neighbors pay considerably less then we do for a much larger house isn't. Yet if we try for a larger house again the waiting list is at 2 and a half years and on another post. It is frustrating as I drive through housing and there sits many empty, large refurbished, ready to go houses(not empty for a week or two but months) when I inquired about this, the housing manager said she didn't know why. I will say that any orders we put in to have anything fixed is usually done in about a week to 10 days. Everyone is very nice, considerate about shoes, and cleaning up after they finish working. Something we hadn't seen in quite a few stations. The whole thing is very frustrating!
I agree with this article, my friend lives at Patrick AFB! Even though the AF gives us BAH, I feel like the money we receive and give away to the housing isn't worth it! The next place we get stationed I am not going to live on base(well post because we have to go to an Army Post) because we aren't sure what it'll be like! the house we moved into for Fort Ord, Monterey, CA is 1675 a month for a TINY two bedroom house and the day I moved into it there were DEAD bugs everywhere, I had to clean it up myself and then call maintenance to find out they don't have a contract with any pest control. I then had to go out and buy pest sprays and do it myself! Annoying!