Military life often means moving every few years. It’s a requirement that can become expensive for military families.
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Now they are one step closer to getting more help to cover housing costs. A measure to reduce the monthly housing allowance to 100 percent recently passed a key House committee.
Amy Shick knows firsthand the costs military families incur. Her husband serves in the U.S. Army and they live near Joint-Base Lewis McChord in Washington state. It’s a part of the country that, like so many others, is struggling with skyrocketing housing costs.
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“Inflation has hit our economy very hard and military families are feeling it,” Shick said.
Shick is a board member of the Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN). The group has been pushing for years to help military families keep up with rising costs.
A lot of attention is paid to the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH). It is based on location, level of service in the military, and whether there are dependents.
In 2019, the BAH was reduced to cover 95 percent of housing costs, instead of 100 percent, leaving military families with higher out-of-pocket expenses.
“Our BAH dollars haven’t caught up yet and so our purchasing power is a lot less, which means it could result in financial hardship for military families,” Shick said.
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But this month there was progress in the House of Representatives to restore BAH. The House Armed Services Committee passed H.R. 8070, the FY25 Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes the measure to return BAH to 100 percent.
Our Washington News Bureau spoke with Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-WA), who has been leading the effort to fully restore BAH in the House of Representatives.
“We know it is long overdue,” Strickland said. “Returning it to 100 percent is a way to put a few hundred dollars a month back into the pockets of families who serve our country.”
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Shick says this step is critical to helping families.
“This gives military families some breathing room financially. These moves are just very expensive,” Shick said.
The next step in the process is for the full House to vote on the measure. That could happen as early as early June.
“Basic housing is a fundamental right that all people have, especially those who serve our country,” Strickland said.
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