Senator Reverend Warnock Introduces Legislative Package to Bolster Affordable Military Housing for Georgia Servicemembers

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) introduced a legislative package that will help servicemembers across Georgia and nationwide obtain affordable and quality housing. During the Senator's visits to nearly every military base in the state, servicemembers have expressed frustrations about the lack of access to affordable, safe, and quality housing on military bases and in respective military base communities.

The package also aims to provide relief and recourse to Georgia servicemembers and military families who are left vulnerable to fluctuating markets, rising prices, inadequate base housing, and privatized military housing companies. Last year, Senator Warnock also pushed for revision to the basic allowance for housing process in last year's NDAA. Additionally, in January, Senator Warnock led an oversight effort to examine the unsanitary, unsafe living conditions at Georgia military base housing facilities operated by Balfour Beatty. BBC manages housing communities at 55 military installations in U.S., including Fort Gordon, Fort Benning, Fort Stewart, Hunter Army Airfield, Moody Air Force Base, and Kings Bay Naval Station. The steps prescribed in Senator Warnock's new military housing package would alleviate these challenges for many servicemembers.

"Our servicemembers are the best among us. They represent us and they defend us. The least we can do is ensure they and their families have access to affordable and quality housing," said Senator Reverend Warnock."I have visited bases across Georgia and the housing conditions are sometimes shameful. This legislative package would restore the housing allowance that servicemembers deserve, provide greater transparency for how the annual allowance is calculated, identify ways to increase military homeownership, and incentivize private developers to help build housing for our military families.

"Georgia is a military state: 1 in 10 Georgians is in some way connected to the military, so when we invest in housing for our servicemembers and their families, we increase their morale and quality of life and invest in our national security. I'm going to keep pushing the politicians in Washington on the importance of getting this done," concluded Senator Warnock.

Senator Warnock has been a strong advocate for bringing more affordable housing to servicemembers and for increasing quality of life for Georgia's military families. This past year's NDAA featured almost $320 million in authorized military construction funding for Georgia, including funding for soldiers barracks at Fort Stewart, as well as the language Senator Warnock championed which pushed the DoD to examine their methodology for determining the basic allowance for housing for servicemembers. He also successfully secured Congressionally Directed Spending to move forward the Fort Stewart barracks. Senator Warnock successfully included a bipartisan provision the FY22 NDAA to direct the DoD to collect important data related to military spouse employment and challenges they face. He also led a letter to the Department of Defense related to the need to conduct continued oversight of privatized housing companies.

This package of bills was introduced in the House by Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-WA). The Military Officers Association of America, Air Force Sergeants Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Military Family Advisory Network, and Blue Star Families endorsed the BAH Calculation Improvement Act. Military Officers Association of America, Air Force Sergeants Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Blue Star Families endorsed the BAH Restoration Act. The Air Force Sergeants Association, Blue Star Families, and Military Family Advisory Network endorsed the Increasing Homeownership for Servicemembers Act.

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