Follow up from town hall meeting

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Ronald Lafosse
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Colonel James C. Vechery, 22nd Air Refueling Wing commander, held his first town hall meeting for base housing residents, Aug. 27.

The forum was to open up a direct dialogue between him and housing residents to express concerns and disseminate housing information.

Colonel Vechery said he plans on having these meetings on a quarterly basis.

Some of the topics discussed were housing projects, shelter-in-place programs, housing privatization and a question-and-answer forum.

"Ensure Airmen and their families have good choices for quality housing at each installation through the use of public-private partnerships," said Dina Patton, 22nd Civil Engineer Squadron, housing flight chief.

Questions covered general community, housing construction projects and housing privatization. Here are a couple of questions residents asked during the meeting.

Question: Why is the Air Force privatizing housing?

Answer: Military families deserve safe, quality, affordable, well-maintained housing. Unfortunately, traditional military housing construction programs for bringing housing up to current standards are not funded sufficiently to meet the goal.

In 1996, the Defense Authorization Act authorized the use of private capital to revitalize housing and the Military Housing Privatization Initiative was born.

The bottom line is that privatization is the best, way to develop quality housing within a reasonable timeframe.

By implementing this privatization plan, the Air Force can save 93 percent on it's housing budget. That saved money can now be spent on Air Force weapons systems, research and development, training and logistics that formerly would have gone to base housing.

Question: How does the Basic Allowance for Housing work with privatization and how are payments made for new homes?

Answer: Basic Allowance for Housing is based on a member's geographic duty location, pay grade, and dependent status.

The purpose of BAH is to provide servicemembers accurate and equitable housing compensation based on housing costs in the local civilian housing market. It is paid to a servicemember when government quarters are not provided to them.

The BAH system seeks to provide the typical servicemember with the ability to secure quality housing, irrespective of their duty location. The servicemember chooses to sign a lease and pays rent directly to the developer. More information forthcoming as the project develops.

General public can get a complete listing of questions at:
General McConnell community questions
Housing construction projects
Housing Privatization

Also, military members with access to government computers can access the questions on the "MSG sharepoint" Web site.