PRIVATIZED AIR FORCE HOUSING STRUGGLING TO TAKE OFF AT EGLIN

Here it is, almost 6 years later and no privatized housing at Eglin. As a former Military Housing Director, I can tell you this is no surprise. I have briefed a number of folks on this issue and warned them, “this was going to be a long drawn out process”. I have lived this in my professional life in the military and it does not come easy. A number of things have changed and our area will make it hard. First, the military culture does not want to live on base, as per a housing study of military families; Secondly, there will be no mandatory assignment to military housing anymore, so developers would not have a capture audience. This would be hard in our area, where the desirability of living off base is high; and Thirdly, the need for housing units has recently dropped in our area from 2750 housing units to about 960 units. These first few issues will alone make it difficult. Also, like I told many, no military housing will be in Mossyhead, or near Crestview. It just doesn’t make sense. I can bore you with many details, if you would like. I am only a phone call away. Do I tell you, I not only a former Military Housing Director, I am also a former resident of Eglin AFB Base Housing.

LAST NOTE: WE NEED HOUSING IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR IMMEDIATELY. BANKS NEED TO WORK ON THE FEDS TO FREE UP CAPITAL TO OUR BUILDERS/DEVELOPERS, OR IN MY OPINION, WE WILL HAVE A NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE BECAUSE OF A MORAL ISSUE BECAUSE QUALITY HOUSING WILL NOT READILY AVAILABLE TO THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF MILITARY BEING ASSIGNED HERE VERY SOON.

More hearings set for privatized AF housing
By MONA MOORE
Northwest Florida Daily News 315-4443 mmoore@nwfdailynews.com  
EGLIN AFB — The Air Force scheduled the next round of public hearings for a proposed housing project that would allow private contractors to build, manage and rent housing to military families on land leased from the Air Force. Public hearings for the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI) will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 11 and 12 at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville and the Fort Walton Beach Municipal Auditorium respectively. In 1996, the DOD authorized the Armed Forces to enter into agreements with private developers selected in a competitive process to own, maintain and operate family housing through 50-year leases. Air Force-wide, more than 40,000 homes were privatized in the program’s first 13 years. Though the need is clearly there, none of Eglin’s housing has been privatized. Larry Chavers, chief of environmental awareness at Eglin, said last January 88 percent of the base’s housing does not meet Air Force standards. That beats the Air Forcewide average of 60 percent of housing that needs to be renovated or replaced. “Most of our units are 30 to 50 years old and made of cinder blocks,” Chavers said. As it works to finalize the location of the new housing, Eglin already has spent $13 million on renovations to existing base housing. Since April 2005, the Air Force has made four attempts to privatize housing at Eglin and Hurlburt. The current initiative was introduced at public hearings last January with seven proposed alternatives (including doing nothing at all). Some of the choices have been eliminated because they would interfere with missions, be unsafe for residents or conflict with future plans for expansion. The eliminated choices include an area near Mossy Head; an area in Crestview; and Live Oak Terrace, an area at Hurlburt Field north of U.S Highway 98. The three current choices are to build family housing in the White Point area, on Eglin Main and in Valparaiso, or in the north Fort Walton Beach area. Past public housing initiatives met opposition with the proposed north Fort Walton Beach area. The area includes 249 acres at Camp Pinchot and 83 acres in the Poquito Bayou area. Grassroots organizations opposed building homes in those areas when the idea was introduced in 2005 and 2006. Eglin’s preferred choice is to build on Eglin Main in the southwest corner of Eglin Main Base adjacent to the “new Plew” housing area. In addition to the comments made at the public hearings, comments received by Feb. 7 will be included in the Environmental Impact Statement and taken under consideration by the Air Force. People wishing to mail comments or obtain further information should send them to: Mike Spaits, Eglin Public Affairs Office