In a bipartisan letter to the Depart of Defense (DOD), the Senators requested DOD reevaluate the basic allowance for housing (BAH) rates for Coast Guard members stationed at four Georgia and four Texas Coast Guard stations
Senator Warnock is seeking to improve the cost of living for Coast Guard servicemembers in Tybee Island, Savannah, Brunswick, and Atlanta
Over 600 Coast Guardsmen are stationed in Georgia
Last year, Senator Reverend Warnock introduced the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) Restoration Act, which would restore BAH benefits from 95% of estimated housing costs to full estimated coverage costs
Senators Reverend Warnock and Cruz: “Current BAH rates in Texas and Georgia do not adequately address the challenges faced by Coast Guard service members”
Washington, D.C. – This week, U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) urged the Department of Defense (DOD) to reevaluate the basic allowance for housing (BAH) rates for Coast Guard members stationed at four Georgia and four Texas Coast Guard stations. These include Coast Guard Station Tybee, Coast Guard Air Station Savannah, Coast Guard Station Brunswick, and Coast Guard Recruiting Station Atlanta.
“We write to express our concern regarding the Department of Defense’s (DOD) determination of basic allowance for housing (BAH) in certain areas of Texas and Georgia,” wrote Senators Reverend Warnock and Cruz. “These BAH rates, which are used by the Coast Guard, continue to fall well short of prevailing housing costs for Coast Guard families.”
“Current BAH rates in Texas and Georgia do not adequately address the challenges faced by Coast Guard service members, who are often assigned to duty stations in expensive coastal real estate markets. Coast Guard service members in niche real estate markets like South Padre Island, Texas, and Tybee Island, Georgia, should not be punished by MHA boundaries and BAH calculations that do not accurately reflect their housing costs,” the Senators wrote.
While the Coast Guard finds itself under the jurisdiction of multiple Senate Committees, it primarily falls under the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction, which manages the bi-annual Coast Guard Reauthorization Act process. As a member of the committee and champion for Georgia’s servicemembers, the bipartisan letter follows Senator Warnock and his office hearing from Coast Guardsmen stationed in Georgia about challenges in finding affordable housing, especially among BAH recipients. BAH rates and housing issues have been a major problem for all military services but have been an acute problem for the Coast Guard due to its unique functions and missions when compared to other military services.
The letter notes DOD’s legal responsibility to determine the housing costs in a specific area for civilians of a similar income level. The letter also notes a 2021 GAO report which found that DOD does not always use an appropriate sample size for determining its BAH rates or use the most current data, nor has DOD determined ways to increase the sample sizes it uses.
The letter states that BAH rates tied to Coast Guard station MHAs have not adequately captured the costs of housing for Coast Guardsmen in coastal communities, specifically mentioning Coast Guard Station Tybee. The letter requests that the DOD Military Compensation Policy directorate reevaluate the BAH rates at four Georgia Coast Guard Stations: Station Tybee, Station Brunswick, Air Station Savannah, and Recruiting Station Atlanta, as well as four Texas Coast Guard Stations. Additionally, the letter asks DOD to conduct site visits and requests the dates of those site visits.
During the Senator’s visits to military installations 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. Last year, Senator Warnock introduced a military housing package, including the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) Restoration Act, which would restore BAH benefits from 95% of estimated housing costs to full estimated coverage costs. The Senator is focused on providing relief to Georgia servicemembers and military families who are left vulnerable to fluctuating markets, rising prices, inadequate base housing, and privatized military housing companies.
Find the full text of the letter HERE and below:
The Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301-1000
Dear Mr. Secretary:
In our capacity as ranking member and committee member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the U.S. Coast Guard, we write to express our concern regarding the Department of Defense’s (DOD) determination of basic allowance for housing (BAH) in certain areas of Texas and Georgia. These BAH rates, which are used by the Coast Guard, continue to fall well short of prevailing housing costs for Coast Guard families.
Federal law requires DOD to “determine the costs of adequate housing in a military housing area [MHA] in the United States for all members of the uniformed services,” based upon “the costs of adequate housing for civilians with comparable income levels in the same area.” We are concerned that the DOD Military Compensation Policy directorate (“directorate”) has set BAH rates in Texas and Georgia at levels that fail to meet this requirement due in part to poor data collection.
In 2021, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that:
DOD has not consistently collected the data on available rental units for certain locations and housing types needed to meet its sample size targets and has not always relied on current-year rental housing data. Moreover, DOD has not fully documented this process in guidance for stakeholders.
GAO also noted that DOD has not fully determined ways to increase the number of rental housing data samples used to determine total housing cost. BAH is the second-largest component of service members’ cash compensation, and, for rates to accurately reflect the true cost of housing, DOD must collect timely, robust rental housing data.
Past DOD policy requests have eroded BAH’s purchasing power. For example, in 2014 DOD asked Congress to require service members to pay a portion of their housing costs “out-of- pocket” and remove renter’s insurance costs from BAH. The ensuing decisions led to the current situation in which BAH covers only 95 percent of estimated housing costs and excludes renter’s insurance costs. With housing costs at record highs for many Americans, inadequate BAH levels are causing severe financial strains for military families. Last year, BAH concerns ranked as a top five military life issue for the first time in the 12th annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey. As housing costs continue to rise, reducing the purchasing power of BAH is taking a toll on America’s all-volunteer force.
Current BAH rates in Texas and Georgia do not adequately address the challenges faced by Coast Guard service members, who are often assigned to duty stations in expensive coastal real estate markets. Coast Guard service members in niche real estate markets like South Padre Island, Texas, and Tybee Island, Georgia, should not be punished by MHA boundaries and BAH calculations that do not accurately reflect their housing costs.
We request that the directorate conduct a thorough re-evaluation of the existing MHA boundaries and Coast Guard service member residency patterns in Texas and Georgia, pursuant to 37 U.S.C. § 403 and DOD Financial Management Regulation, Volume 7A. Specifically, we request that the directorate conduct site visits to the MHAs associated with the following U.S. Coast Guard installations:
- Station South Padre Island, Texas
- Station Freeport, Texas
- Aids to Navigation Team Port O’Connor, Texas
- Marine Safety Detachment Victoria, Texas
5. Station Tybee Island, Georgia
6. Air Station Savannah, Georgia
7. Station Brunswick, Georgia
8. Recruiting Office Atlanta, Georgia
Please provide to our committee the anticipated dates of the requested DOD site visits to Texas and Georgia no later than December 31, 2023. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
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