Reply to White House 'Strongly Opposes' Proposed 19.5% Pay Hike for Junior Enlisted Troops

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[quote=Anonymous]They're Not Able to Cover Their Rent': Housing Top Concern as Congressional Panel on Military Life Starts Work

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/04/25/housing-costs-top-troops-concerns-chairman-of-military-quality-of-life-panel-says-after-offutt-visit.html?amp

Enlisted personnel and junior officers are very concerned about being able to afford housing, the chairman of a new House panel focused on quality of life in the military told Military.com in an interview Monday after a pair of listening sessions at Offutt Air Force Base.

"On the enlisted and the officer [side], the housing allowances have been the number one unanimous concern of both," said Bacon, who spoke to Military.com by phone after two of three planned closed-door sessions Monday. "What I'm hearing from the enlisted and officers -- CGOs, company grade officers, in particular -- is that they're not able to cover their rent, which means they're digging into their other pay, their salary for finishing their rent and also doing utilities."

Lawmakers in both parties have been expressing concern in recent years that the Basic Allowance for Housing is not keeping pace with the housing market.

For Offutt, which sits about 10 miles south of Omaha, affordable housing in the surrounding area is scarce, Bacon said.

He said he sees two potential fixes to make housing more affordable for service members. One would be to mandate that BAH cover 100% of housing costs. Right now, it covers 95% of costs after Congress passed a law in 2015 that allowed, but did not require, the Defense Department to reduce the percentage of housing costs the allowance pays for. Earlier this month, Bacon co-sponsored a bill that would bring BAH back up to 100%.

The quality-of-life panel will also look at updating the calculations used to set BAH rates, he added

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