Military update: Stateside housing rates to stay flat for many

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Military update: Stateside housing rates to stay flat for many
By Tom Philpott, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, December 19, 2009

Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) paid to nearly a million servicemembers living off base in stateside areas will increase an average of 2.5 percent in January to keep up with rising rental costs.

But in 158 military housing areas — 43 percent of the total nationwide — current BAH recipients will see no change to their allowance for 2010. That is because local rents, on average, have fallen over the last year, said Cheryl Anne Woehr, an analyst for the Defense Department’s BAH program.

BAH rates are adjusted annually for 364 military housing areas based on changes in local rents, utilities and renters’ insurance for the type of housing appropriate for each military pay grade. The overall increase for 2010 is the smallest for the BAH program since it began a decade ago, a predictable result in a distressed economy.

In areas where rental data show costs have climbed, BAH will increase effective Jan. 1. Where rental costs have declined, BAH rates will be lowered. But the lower rates only will affect servicemembers newly assigned to these areas on or after Jan. 1. Current BAH rates will remain in effect for those already living in areas where rents have fallen from last year.

This rate protection feature ensures that members who entered into rental contracts or mortgage agreements before 2010 will not see their take-home pay crimped by a slide in the local rental market.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66749