My chain of command just announced that they're going to inspect on and off-post housing. What are they allow to inspect?

They do have the authority to make health and welfare checks on, off post housing. They have to give you suitable notice. The US government pays for your housing, they have the right to insure those funds are keeping you in adequate conditions. They can require you live in billeting if they believe you are not taking care of yourself or your government funded quarters. It’s rarely done unless reasons present themselves - because it’s a pain in the ass.

Sounds like a Witch Hunt for “Extremists” to me…

In my experience the CoC does it to get an idea of how soldiers are living and the status of their homes. Like, unresolved repairs and stuff. Be sure to speak to your spouse to make sure they understand and they're comfortable with someone coming into your home. Shouldn't be any problems if you have nothing to hide. Otherwise use the opportunity to give a great impression on yourself when your commander and 1sg come by. They'll see a lot of shit holes on that day, make sure you have the best looking one they've seen.

They will do off post inspections because of excessive illicit drug use in the unit. Mine was after someone made a drug lab in on post housing. They did the barracks too but found nothing but dirty rooms. Stuff was everywhere but an nco was making it. Truth is they can't enter without a warrant but it's easy to get. They just need suspicion.

Unbelievable this Idea is a Scurless Lie. Lock them out Period .

I have heard that as long as they are paying you bha they can inspect your housing, but only your general living areas. No bedrooms or private areas.basically only what they can see or what you allow them to see. I might be wrong but haven't served in 8 years so things might have changed.

Civilian housing can not be entered or inspected without your permission. The exception would be if it is government owned off base housing. If you don't want your off base home inspected, simply tell your chain of command. That should take care of it. If it doesn't, go up the chain.

This topic brings back bad memories. Back in 1968 one night I pulled CQ. Around 10 pm a trainee reported that someone stole his wallet. I immediately called for an open locker inspection for the entire company since all platoons were in the same building. I came across a bag of marijuana in one of the lockers. (Back then possession of weed was very serious offense). After completing the inspection I called the MPs and the trainee was taken into custody. Much to my surprise the next morning I see the trainee that had the weed in formation with his platoon. I went to the CO and asked him what he was doing back. As it turned out, I was looking for a wallet and not for weed so he got off the hook. After that when I see inspection mandates I wonder how the legal acrobatics are going to play for successful inspections.

SSG Mendoza,
Let be careful of the situation. Do not confuse inspection at your rental house or apartment with a room inspection in the barracks. One of the things that I required my PSG to do was to visit (no inspection) their Soldier at their home. To see how they live, how are the conditions around them. Check for crooked landlords or even banned apartments. NO, no one can get in your house without your permission, and even if you let them in, they have no freedom to move from room to room. Even in Government housing, your chain of command has no right to inspect your quarters. Bring this issue to your PSG or 1SG immediately.

In my 21yrs in the Army the only time a spouse was made to leave was domestic violence, from what I understand there had to be a very good reason for making someone move back on post. I worked at NAS Pensacola for 15 yrs as a base police officer and we had to escort a spouse both the male and female .

Read all the answers.
My question is if you are a good troop and they want to make sure you and your family are OK, do you really want to piss off the 1SG, when he is trying to take care of you.
All things being equal, just saying.
Maybe it as different in the way back when I was in.

Easy. Tell them your wife said they can go pack sand. End of story.

Not sure about this - but I believe off-post housing that is located on post property can be inspected, it not any different than the barracks on post and/or base housing. I had a SSgt who's on base housing was terrible inside - judicial punishment was administered to this individual and social services temporarily removed his children. I agree with the other post, off base housing is private property and your leadership has no authority to inspect your home.

Hey SSG. Not a naive question. But if I remember right. There is a procedure they have to follow before doing health welfare on off post housing. It includes a pre notice.

Just in case this hasn't been covered enough, there are countless articles online from military sources that cover this topic thoroughly. My first stop would've been Google, where I'd have gotten all the info I needed and never even needed to come here.

Search engines are great at finding the info you're looking for. You just have to actually use them first. Seems like a common thing that people would rather post the question somewhere and wait for hours/days/weeks someone else to give them the answer before they'll ever spend 60 seconds looking for it themselves. 99% of the time, the info they need is in the first 3 search results but again, you have to actually use them to find this stuff. Something most, people appear to not want and/or know how to do.

Times have certainly changed since my TIS. Once you moved off post or off base. Chain of Command/COC lost any and all rights to even Come to your home uninvited, and most definitely could not perform any type of inspection. Then again, one had to prove they were worthy of living off base. You had to be an E5 or higher at some stations. E5 and below had to remain in base housing.

it is a matter of folks living in slumlord housing. We had a lot of folks living in unsafe conditions and we blacklisted a lot of landlords. This can be done without going in homes. Not everyone knows their legal rights for standard of living against landlords as folks do in the civilian world. We even inspected cars and repaired them for our folks. Not everyone knows how to repair cars or have the money. If folks did not have money to buy beds, food, clothing, appliances or anything else to live well, we stood up and took care of them.
We should demand better for our folks.
We looked out for our folks which is our responsibility.

The base housing office wanted to ensure that soldiers were receiving adequate housing from the German landlords. The chain of command bought into the idea, and it was voluntary, although not well known. As a 1SG at the time, the idea came from my CSM.

Back in the 80's we were living in Sub-Standard off base housing in New Orleans. It was government housing but because it didn't have things like auto dishwashers and the like, we got partial BAQ.
There was a small fire in the upstairs unit directly above ours. The FD had to come in and be sure it hadn't moved into our quarters. Breakfast dishes were in the Sink, and we had a few loads of clean laundry waiting to be folded on the couch. When you have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, that's pretty common.
The Base Housing people said my wife "was a poor housekeeper" and she had to see the CO of the Main base in New Orleans to be "Counseled".
We moved into civilian apartment building 10 days later. Several civilians were lucky I didn't want to go to jail, or "Asses would be stinging" Big pairs of balls on those people.
On base, nothing you can do. They wanted to bring drug dogs through housing in Puerto Rico, and even though I had no drugs in the house, I sprinkled black pepper mixed with Paprika along baseboards, under furniture, etc just on principle. Never heard anything about it.
I'm a former LEO too---If you live off base, they need a warrant. And in many towns (I know for sure about Norwich, CT when I was at New London), the Judge in Superior court kindly told the NCIS to go piss up a rope when they wanted to search my home as well as others---Guilt by association don't cha know. Didn't work.

Read the complete announcement or ask your IG.