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JBSA News
NEWS | July 24, 2008

Housing privatization closer to completion

By Meredith Canales 37th Training Wing Public Affairs

Beginning Aug. 1, all of Lackland's on-base housing should be privatized. The installation made the move in the interest of better upkeep for housing and savings on maintenance.

"They're not going to be our property anymore," said Housing Privatization Manager Roy Ranzau. "It'll be like living off base. Instead of them coming to our housing office when there's a problem, they'll go to the developer. If there are any disputes, it'll be a legal dispute, just like if they are renting off base."

Mr. Ranzau said instead of Airmen being given a base housing allowance every month, Faulkner USA, the developer and future manager of all base housing, will get a check directly from the government.

"We are really looking at this to help with the upkeep," he said. "Traditionally, the Air Force spends money on military construction to build houses, but they don't really spend a lot of money to upgrade them. The houses, over time, tend to deteriorate and don't have the same quality of life. Many of the houses we've just demolished are from the '50s."

The area the housing office has specified as North Wherry has already been demolished.

"They were way beyond their useful life, and people were living in them. There was mold and asbestos and all kinds of issues," said Mr. Ranzau. "We have 132 homes going in there, and they'll all be junior non-commissioned officer homes."

The other large neighborhood in the works is being called North Skeet because it was formerly the base skeet range.

"It's a vacant lot right now," said Mr. Ranzau. "It's been remediated because of all of the lead in it. This one will be built for chief master sergeants, company grade officers and field grade officers. It will be a mix of grades, but they will be segregated and will be a little different depending on the rank. Those homes will be an average of 2,200 square feet."

According to Housing Flight Chief James Fisher, the construction will be done entirely by Faulkner USA.

"We will be providing oversight," he said. "There might be concerns with how to deal with the military. A lot of contractors are good at the construction side, but they have never dealt with military. We assist them in transitioning toward becoming comfortable with the military."

Faulkner USA already has a presence on Lackland Air Force Base.

"They already built some of our homes on base back in 2000," said Mr. Ranzau. "Rather than have two different companies on base, we decided to go with them again. That way, we can have all 883 homes run by the same company."

Though there have been recent briefings and town hall meetings on privatization, Mr. Fisher said there were no plans to hold additional meetings about the issue.

"Everyone's up to speed on privatization," he said. "We're only waiting for it to become legal with the actual signing off and home construction."