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Page | Hurlburt Warrior | Friday, December 28, 2012
Housing allowance stateside to rise an average 3.8 percent
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Tom
Philpott
Basic Allowance for
Housing (BAH) paid to
about 1 million service
members living off base
in the United States will
rise by an average of 3.8
percent Jan. 1, nearly
double the average 2 percent
hike of last year.
How BAH recipients
fare as individuals will
vary by pay grade and
assignment area. BAH
rates are rising, or at
least staying level, across
79 percent of the military’s
365 housing areas,
said Cheryl Anne Woehr,
BAH program manager
for the Defense Department.
In the
21 percent
of areas
where
rents have
fallen this
past year,
members
already
living
there will
benefit from BAH rate
protection. This law
allows members who
are committed to rental
agreements or paying off
mortgages to continue to
draw housing allowances
at current rates.
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So only service members
who move after Dec.
31 into areas where rental
costs have fallen will
feel the affects of lowered
rates for 2013.
BAH for a married
career enlisted member
in the grade of E-6 will
climb an average of $60 a
month in January. A typical
married officer, rank
O-3, will see an average
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Basic Allowance for Housing rates for 2013 are online
at http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/bahCalc.cfm.
Starting at $ 3.9 9
increase of $55 a month,
Woehr said.
Other pays will increase
Jan. 1. Military
basic pay increase will 1.7
percent across all ranks
and pay grades. Basic
Allowance for Subsistence
(BAS) will increase
1.1 percent, based on food
price changes tracked
by a Department of Agriculture
index. BAS
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for enlisted will be
$352.27 a month, up from
$348.44. Officer BAS,
which is always lower
due to a quirky history
of adjusting food allowances,
will be $242.60 a
month, up from $239.96.
Service members
living off base overseas
get an Overseas Housing
Allowance instead of
BAH. OHA is based on
what members actually
pay in rent. It also gets
adjusted periodically as
the dollar’s value shifts
against local foreign
currency. But OHA is not
adjusted in concert with
BAH.
Veterans using the
Post-9/11 GI bill get a
monthly “living” stipend
equal to the BAH rate
in their area for an E-5
with dependents. The
Department of Veterans
Affairs will use 2013 rates
to adjust the stipend in
August, the start of a new
academic year.
BAH rates are adjusted
yearly based on
changes in rental costs,
utilities and renter’s
insurance premiums
for various housing
types. Those who are
married or have children
draw the higher “with
dependents” rate in all
housing areas.
BAH payments will total
$20 billion in 2012
Areas seeing some of
the largest BAH increase
this year include New
York City (14.7 percent),
Altus Air Force Base,
Okla., (14.1 percent),
Sumter/Shaw Air Force
Base, S.C. (11.8 percent),
Honolulu County, Hawaii
(11.2 percent) and
Hanscom Air Force Base,
Maine (10.8 percent).
Areas reporting some
of the steepest rental
declines include Portsmouth,
New Hampshire/
Kittery, Maine (-5.6 percent),
Twenty-Nine Palms
Marine Corps Base, Calif.
(-5.1 percent), Fort Stewart,
Ga. (-3.4 percent) and
Montgomery, Ala (-2.6
percent.)
Since 2008, BAH “without
dependent” rates
have benefited from an
artificial floor. These
rates for single members
must match at least 75
percent of the local “with
dependents” rate at the
same pay grade.
By law, stateside housing
allowances have to
be based on the cost of
housing for civilians with
comparable incomes in
the local area, Woehr
said. BAH rates are set
to cover 100 percent of
median rental cost, utilities
and rental insurance
in each area based on the
type of housing officials
deem appropriate to a
member’s pay grade and
dependent status.
BAH rates are tied to
the base or installation
See housing page 9