HOUSING Some areas see rents up as much as 49 percent

the drain, the Martins finally found a home.

But there were caveats. They’d have to start paying rent a month before they actually moved. And, at $4,200 per month, their rent was nearly $700 more than the monthly basic allowance for housing, known as the BAH, that her husband, a lieutenant, receives.

“We’ll probably be here two or three years, so that could be $20,000 that we’re paying out of pocket above BAH just for rent,” Martin said after completing her family’s fourth move in 15 years last month.

“It’s affecting us personally but then I think about how we were a junior enlisted family at one point. I cannot imagine the struggles (they) are going through.”

Housing has long been a major benefit for service members, a subsidy to salaries that trail the private sector. But, amid recordbreaking spikes in rent, the Department of Defense has neglected its commitment to help military families find affordable places to live, service members and housing activists say.

That’s forced many to settle for substandard homes, deal with extremely long commutes or pay thousands out of pocket they hadn’t budgeted for.

“We have families coming to us that are on exorbitantly lengthy waiting lists and sitting in homes that they can’t afford, like an Airbnb rental, or they’re at a hotel or camping in tents or living in RVS,” said Kate Needham, a veteran who cofounded the nonprofit Armed Forces Housing Advocates in May 2021.

“I don’t think civilians really understand — they might think we’re living in free housing and just having a great time, making lots of money. And that’s not the case at all.”

Needham’s group supplies microgrants to military families in need, some of whom have resorted to food banks because their salaries do not cover such basics.

Reports of the housing squeeze military families face has alarmed members of Congress, who are pushing legislation that would force the Department of Defense to rethink how it handles housing.

A common complaint is that with rents soaring nationwide, the housing allowances, which vary by rank and are recalculated annually, haven’t kept pace with rental markets, even though they’re supposed to cover 95 percent of rental costs for the approximately two-thirds of active-duty personnel who, like the Martins, have to live off base.

1ST LT. DANIEL BARNHORST U.S. AIR FORCE VIA AP Housing for service members is shown at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. Some airmen stationed at Mountain Home have started living in RV parks or moving as much as two hours away to afford off-base rent.

AIRMAN 1ST CLASS NATALIE RUBENAK U.S. AIR FORCE VIA AP Col. Jamaal Mays said housing allowances have increased, but not enough to keep pace with rents.

ALEX BRANDON AP FILE Rep. Marilyn Strickland (center) has introduced a measure to examine housing allowance calculations.