Petty officer leaders and other members of Congress request full payment of military housing allowance

U.S. military non-commissioned officer leaders this week encouraged lawmakers to pursue funding increases that would fully cover a soldier’s estimated housing costs each year.

Increasing service members’ housing benefits to 100%, rather than the current 95%, would make a huge difference in soldiers’ pockets, enlisted leaders told members of the House Armed Services Committee during Wednesday’s hearing on quality. Told. About life in the military.

“That’s a big impact. That 5% goes back into the pockets of service members so they can pay for housing,” said Air Force Chief Sergeant Major Joanne Bass. “You have to get there. It’s a no-brainer for me.”

Increasing housing benefits also shows troops that the country they serve cares about them, added Army Staff Sergeant Major Michael Weimer.

The move to expand funding comes as a volatile real estate market is straining the budgets of many military families and making it difficult to find stable, affordable housing across the country.

The Department of Defense once set basic housing allowance rates that, on average, covered 100 percent of a soldier’s expected housing costs. Funding levels have fallen to 95% since 2015, when Congress authorized cuts in funding.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska), chairman of the committee’s Select Committee on Quality of Life, said the issue is important as Congress plans its next annual defense policy and spending bill. promised to work on it.

“We have to recover that 5%,” Bacon said at the hearing. “We may not be able to do it all at once, but we’re going to do this step by step, because I think this is just a terrible mistake, because we don’t want our servicemen and women to Considering what you’ve done, ladies.”

He noted that each 1% increase in BAH would cost taxpayers about $220 million. The numbers come from a 2023 Department of Defense analysis that found that putting the full 5% back into housing benefits would cost taxpayers an additional $1.1 billion in the 2024 calendar year. This is on top of the $27.9 billion in BAH that the Department of Defense expects to pay for about 1 million services. Member of 2024.

The amount each military member spends to cover the last 5% depends on their pay grade and whether they have dependents. That out-of-pocket cost ranges from $85 to $194 per month, according to a Department of Defense analysis.

At the same time, lawmakers are calling on the Pentagon to pay 100% of the cost itself, a step the department can take without Congressional approval.

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The monthly BAH increase applies to everyone eligible for the allowance, but not to soldiers living in privatized housing, as their entire salary is typically paid directly to their landlord. . Rent for privatized housing is set at BAH rates.

Generally, about two-thirds of military personnel live in civilian communities rather than on base. A service member can choose to rent or purchase off-base housing that is less expensive than her monthly BAH allotment and has access to additional funds. If you choose to rent or buy a home that costs more than BAH. You will cover any additional costs yourself.

In some areas, where affordable and safe housing is in short supply, troops are forced to choose between living in less secure areas, more expensive areas, or areas further from their bases.

The average cost of buying a home in the United States jumped from $383,000 to $492,300 from the beginning of 2020 to the end of 2023, according to a database maintained by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. During the same period, the number of active listings for single-family homes, condos, and townhouses fell from about 952,000 to about 714,000.

Defense officials are seeking to cushion the impact of higher housing costs by adding temporary, out-of-cycle BAH increases at the beginning of fiscal years 2022 and 2023 without raising the 95% cap. . The department also began providing military personnel with an average pay increase of 12.1% in calendar year 2023. This was the largest year-on-year increase in BAH in at least 15 years.

BAH interest rates increased by an average of 5.4% in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Government Accountability Office reported that the Defense Department needs to improve the way it calculates housing benefits for soldiers. DOD is considering these steps.