The Constitution’s Third Amendment is treated as an historical anachronism these days, but the drafters’ thinking seems to have been that members of the military ought to be housed on the government’s dime.
214 years later, at least some soldiers are faced with the odd prospect of having to pay rent in order to live on the Army bases that they’ve been assigned because of a complex brew of real estate financing mechanisms and military compensation legislation the founding fathers likely did not foresee.
At issue is the Residential Communities Initiative, under which 98 percent of the Army’s on-base family housing has been privatized since the project began in 1995. RCI and similar projects in the Air Force and Navy are widely regarded as some of the most successful public-private partnerships in the federal government’s recent history. They attracted private financing to replace dilapidated living quarters at a time when the military could not afford to do so. In exchange, developers were promised rental payments equal to a service member’s monthly Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH).
More
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
4 comments:
Totally unacceptable for a volunteer military! Absolutely not! I guess BO wants to reduce the volunteers to zero.
Now read it carefully, and be aware that service members receive either housing, or an allowance to pay for housing. Living in base housing was free (and nice), but even if they have to pay for that, they will receive a housing allowance to fund it.
Crony capitalism in action.
Who got the contracts for the private housing?
Who makes the big bucks?
Those who pay for political campaigns
This started under clinton and was not changed by any of the presidents since him republican or democrat. Not a BO fan, but you can't blame this on him.
Post a Comment