I titled this mostly because everyone knows in the military life rules and regulations change on the regular and exceptions sometimes happen as well. Below is a list of most of the important answers to questions that I see asked frequently in regards to military housing:
* The title says mostly for a reason this post is mainly geared towards CONUS MOVES.
Everything You Need To Know About Onpost Housing
To be quite frank their is not much I can tell you about onpost housing because housing offices and housing in general differ by post. Below I have listed some of the most important info I could think of based on FAQ’s and emails I have received.
1.When you live onpost BAH will show up on your service members LES but will be taken right back out for housing.
2. You do not get to keep BAH when living onpost. (In very rare cases some housing offices have offered to give soldiers back a certain percentage of BAH if they took very old housing or another specific situation.)
3. The minute your spouse receives orders you should contact the housing office at your scheduled duty station to see what their criteria is for being placed on their housing list.
Trust me you will hear many times that you can’t be placed on the housing list until your arrive. In alot of cases this is not true. Your best bet is to not listen to hearsay and call housing, only they will know the correct answer.
4. To view floorplans and pictures of most housing on any Army Installation visit https://onestop.army.mil
All the contact information you will need to contact housing will be here in addition to everything you could ever want and need to know such as the general area of base, schools onpost activities and so on.
5. In most cases the size of housing you will receive is based on your family size and ages of your children. The Army has standards and rules in which they go by in deciding at which age children can room together and also on gender of child. Same gender children share a room up to 10 years of age and opposite sex can share a room until six years of age – no more than two children may share a room in any case). Taken from http://www.garmisch.army.mil/Directorates/D%20P%20W/housing.asp
6. When moving into onpost housing be prepared to pay the pro-rated amount in BAH for that month. If for some reason you have difficulty obtaining the the finances for it, you can apply for what is known as a ASHA LOAN also known as Advanced Station Housing Loan. This is a interest free loan in which your soldier will have to fill out form DA-4187 and submit to his/her command to apply for. Thanks to a reminder tip from a reader, you can also apply for an AER (Army Emergency Relief Loan). The loan is interest free through the Army and pretty much guaranteed. Is is based on need and not credit . Your spouse’s higher up will have to sign off on it and their is a small process. You can learn more about AER Loans here.
When my family and I PCS’ed to Hunter Army Airfield, we had to get an AER loan to pay for first month’s rent and the security deposit for a house we were going to rent offpost.
Update: I have been told that some places have changed this , but as ahead of time.
7. Houses come with stoves and refrigerators. Both onpost homes I have lived have had dishwashers and central air. Don’t count on having a washing machine and dryer waiting for you. Here in Hawaii we were provided with washer and dryers but this is definitely a first. Some older onpost homes tend not to have central air so be sure to ask about there AC situation ahead of time.
8. Many housing offices allow you to paint your home onpost but usually you have to request permission via a form filled out and submitted to the housing office.
9. No you cannot get a house onpost if you are not married. No offense to the girl friends and fiancee’s but you wouldn’t believe how many emails I have received asking that question. The reality is that the Army does not acknowledge you unless your married and even then it’s a hit or miss :)
10. If your spouse happens to be deployed and you get offered housing as long as you have a housing POA or in some cases a general POA you will be allowed to taken care of all the housing paperwork to move onpost.
11. Want to see a review from people who many possibly be at your current or future post visit my pal and one of the best writers on PCS moves I know Susanna at Military Duty Stations
12.Yes you can check your position on the housing list online but I would not count on it. The list said I was #120 when I got called for a house the first time and #62 when I moved here to Hawaii. The reality is that alot of it will depend on when people arrive and if people are bumped off the list should their orders change.
13. Lastly yes it sucks but the fact of the matter is that different ranks will pay different amounts of BAH for the same house.
I hope this list has given you a general outline and answered some of your burning questions.
Feel free to email me at krystel@armywife101.com with your questions.
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Krystel is the mom of two and an Army Wife. In addition to Army Wife 101 she is the Co-Founder of SoFluential.com a digital media agency that connects brands with the military market.
She has appeared on MSNBC ,FOX LA and formerly was a weekly contributor to HLN's "Raising America". She has written for various outlets including Sheknows and Lifetime and is a big fan of cupcakes and french fries. 18 Comments on Mostly Everything You Need to Know About Onpost Housing…
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Great post! We lived in on post housing for about 2.5 yrs of his thus far 11 year Army career. I am extremely happy with owning our own home for the last four years. Much less expensive when you consider tax rebates, etc.
Currently at Ft. Carson only about half of the homes have air. They are building, tearing down, rebuilding new homes on post right now.
GREAT POST!
oh and not sure if you might want to add this or not, but this may help =] .. just like with off post housing- 30 day notices are required when PCSing or moving off base and orders are required to put in those notices. When we pcsed we learned the hard way that even if you only get your orders 2 weeks out [and housing refuses to even accept a Commander’s note to put in the notice], you will need to pay the pro-rated amount of BAH for the month aka half the months BAH or in some cases, even the full amount if you weren’t able to put that 30 day notice in.
when we pcs’d to GA we didn’t have the prorated amount and we were able to take out an AER loan to cover it. I have never heard of the loan you wrote about but AER will cover any move-in expenses as well. I think we paid $50/month through an allotment each month until it was paid off.
GREAT POST! Even though I already knew all this it is great to have all the info in one location. :)
Thanks so much.Getting housing on post next week.Good refresh of what I’m learning.
Also, much of this does not apply to overseas housing. For example, in Germany & Belgium, homes do not have AC (but then it only stays hot one or two months). Homes are mostly stairwell living (apartments) in Germany. Belgium has duples, triplexes, etc in the SHAPE area and very little onpost housing but mostly contracted off-post housing areas. Some posts in Germany have dual voltage outlets, so you can use your 110volt appliances from the US and your 220 volt local appliances.
If you have pets, I believe this is worldwide, only two pets are allowed per military quarters, so don’t start taking in pets until you retire!
On post housing gives you access to a “self help items store”. For example, in Belgium, we can even check out steam cleaners, lawnmowers, power tools, as well as items for quick fixes around the house. In Germany, I changed over all of our toilet lids as the ones were yuck when we moved in.
Hi Veteran Military Wife,
You are correct I forgot to note that I did not touch on OCONUS housing but I will in a future post. Your information was great, thanks for posting :)
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Hi, my name is oscar and i am trying to find a website where i can interact with other army husbands, my wife is getting deployed and would love to know how other army husbands are dealing with the deployment. THANK YOU VERY MUCH
hello. i was wondering what the website is to see ur name place on the housing list. im moving to schofield also :D.
FYI here at Schofield a washer and dryer is not provided for E-5 or above we got a loaner one for 2 months and hopefully we will be able to buy a set for our christmas present it looks like. lol
I think it is crazy to not offer a washer/dryer to all ranks because doesnt housing get more BAH for the same house if we are E-5 or above? hmmmmm =)
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