DOD boosts housing and other resources to reduce financial pressures faced by military families

Many active-duty service members and military families will soon get relief for the rising costs of housing, food and other basic needs, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said this month in a memo, where he also announced expanded access to military child care, moving allowances and spousal employment.

“I understand the extraordinary pressures that our military families face,” Austin said, “and we are determined to do right by them, every step of the way.”

Effective October 2022 is an automatic increase in the basic allowance for housing (BAH) for service members and families living in 28 military housing areas where rental costs have spiked on average more than 20%. The list spans 17 states, including California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii and Texas, according to the Department of Defense (DOD).

The precise increase depends also on service members’ pay grade and dependency status, said Jeri Busch, director of Military Compensation, who was among the DOD officials briefing the media on Sept. 22, when the memo was released.

Busch provided two examples to demonstrate the potential range in housing allowances: An E-6 in Kings Bay, Georgia, could receive a monthly boost of about $200, while an E-5 stationed in the high-cost city of Boston could receive as much as $1,100 per month.

Austin also directed a review of BAH tables for 2023 to be sure they accurately reflect what he described as “unusually dynamic fluctuations in the housing market.”

In addition to a 4.6% pay raise that takes effect next year, Austin said DOD is also issuing a supplemental basic needs allowance to income-eligible service members and their families.

Starting January 2023, service members and military households stationed in the United States or abroad qualify if they have gross incomes below 130% of the federal poverty line.

Busch said estimated allowances “could be as little as $990 for a year, (or) upwards of $30,000 for an E-1 with a very large family.”

Austin also said DOD will fully fund commissaries to cut the cost of groceries by 25%.

Permanent solutions needed, advocacy organization says

The leader of an advocacy organization for military families praised the DOD action in a statement issued to RallyPoint.

“The Military Family Advisory Network is encouraged to see the Department take steps to ease the load for service members and their families, particularly in addressing economic and food insecurity,” said Shannon Razsadin, president and executive director of the network.

But she called for permanent solutions to support service member households that have trouble making ends meet.

Razsadin cited a 2021 MFAN survey of military and Veteran families that underscored the extent of the problem: 57% reported experiencing financial emergencies in the past, 60.9% reported paying more than they could comfortably afford for housing and 16.6% reported experiencing food insecurity or hunger.

She applauded DOD for forthrightly addressing these and other financial burdens through initiatives such as the “Strengthening Food Security in the Force Roadmap,” issued in July 2022, and in the more recent “Taking Care of Our Service Members and Families” memo.

However, Razsadin said, more must be done to fix these problems, which are getting worse.

“We see the lines at our food distributions getting longer, not shorter,” she said. “This is a sign of two things: there is a continued need for immediate relief, and we must find long-term solutions that remove barriers to support.”

DOD expands child care, moving expense coverage and employment

Austin’s memo directed DOD to take the following other steps to support military families in the areas of child care, permanent change of station (PCS) moves and spousal employment:

Child care: DOD is investing more in the Child Development Program (CDP) to expand the capacity and quality of child care. To attract child care workers, DOD is cutting in half the child care costs for the first child of CDP direct-care workers. The department said it is improving access to the Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood initiative and expanding the in-home child care fee assistance pilot program.

PCS moves: DOD is permanently increasing temporary lodging expense coverage to 14 days, from 10, and allowing up to 60 days of coverage for service members in areas where there’s a housing shortage. It’s increasing the dislocation allowance (DLA) for E-1 to E-6 service members to offset personal expenses incurred during PCS moves. Effective October 2022, service members will receive DLA payments automatically one month before their move date.

Spousal employment: Among other initiatives, DOD is making it easier for spouses who move to transfer professional licenses or credentials by accelerating the development of seven occupational licensure interstate compacts. DOD is also increasing its use of noncompetitive, direct-hiring authorities for military spouses. And next year, it will launch a new pilot initiative to match military spouses with private-sector fellowships in different career paths.

Learn more

Read the “Taking Care of Our Service Members and Families” memo: https://media.defense.gov/2022/Sep/22/ [login to see] /-1/-1/0/TAKING-CARE-OF-OUR-SERVICE-MEMBERS-AND-FAMILIES.PDF

Read the news release: https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3167769/dod-announces-immediate-and-long-term-actions-to-help-strengthen-the-economic-s

Read DOD’s food insecurity strategy and roadmap: https://media.defense.gov/2022/Jul/14/ [login to see] /-1/-1/1/STRENGTHENING-FOOD-SECURITY-IN-THE-FORCE-STRATEGY-AND-ROADMAP.PDF

Review the states with military housing areas eligible for the automatic increase in BAH:

California: Vandenberg Air Force Base, Twenty Nine Palms Marine Corps Base.
Delaware: Dover Air Force Base.
Florida: Patrick Air Force Base; Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Volusia County, Fort Myers Beach.
Georgia: Kings Bay/Brunswick.
Hawaii: Maui County.
Illinois: Chicago.
Massachusetts: Boston, Cape Cod, Plymouth, Martha’s Vineyard.
Maine: Brunswick, Coastal Maine.
Missouri: Fort Leonard Wood.
Montana: Helena.
North Carolina: Wilmington.
New Jersey: Northern New Jersey.
Rhode Island: Newport, Providence.
South Carolina: Beaufort/Parris Island.
Tennessee: Knoxville.
Texas: Houston.
Virginia: Quantico/Woodbridge.