Lackland Air Force Base, Texas –
Housing residents were informed during a July 27 Town Hall Meeting that the process for completing privatization of all homes on Lackland will begin soon.
The meeting, which was aired simultaneously on the Lackland Intranet via streaming video, was an opportunity for current base housing residents to be acquainted with the proposed timeline for housing privatization, and for base officials to ease concerns regarding the upcoming changes.
Brig. Gen. Darrell Jones, 37th Training Wing commander, opened the meeting by assuring the audience that "privatized housing is really going to be no different than [base housing] was yesterday."
According to the general, the Air Force currently has 188,000 substandard houses. By 2010, with the help of a contractor, 803 substandard houses at Lackland would be replaced with 883 new privatized homes. This would bring the average age of homes at Lackland from 45 years to five years.
"If we were to use military construction to replace those 188,000 houses, we could do it in a mere 30 years. With privatized housing, we could expect to see a quicker, more seamless move," said General Jones. "You won't realize any differences at all as long as you're here at Lackland."
Under the current timeline for privatization, base housing residents will begin signing leases in September. If they are not signing a lease, they can begin moving off base at the government's expense.
The tentative effective date of the award to the developer will be announced in early September during the next town hall meeting. Construction on the new housing area on main Lackland is slated to begin in January 2007.
Housing residents who sign a lease with the contractor will remain in their existing unit, with their Basic Allowance for Housing used to pay rent. Once they move into the new housing area, utilities will be included in rent based on average use - paid for up to 110 percent. Additional services such as phone, cable and internet will be paid to the local provider.
Those who opt to not sign a lease will be required to notify the Housing Office before Oct. 1 and at that time be able to move out of housing to an alternative off-base location. The Housing Office will be available to help residents find military-friendly locations off base.
"We've given housing residents the decision," said John Heye, 37th Civil Engineer Squadron deputy engineer. "They have the option to stay and move into privatized housing, or move off base at the expense of the government. We want to give those who want to stay the best house with the least effort, and we are here for the members who elect to move off base ... to assist them in the moving process."
With Lackland being home to the first privatized housing project in the Air Force, Frank Tejeda Estates, the concept is nothing new. Now only a handful of bases in the continental United States have not gone to privatization.
"By privatization efforts, we're going to be able to cut our timeline and put new homes in place by 2010 - something we could not do without going that route," said Mr. Heye. "This is a real estate transaction - we are conveying existing housing to a development company with a 50-year lease to finance, plan, design, construct and manage the rental housing developments for military families."
General Jones said that in 1998, 277 substandard Air Force houses were replaced with about 420 houses that were much nicer, much more up-to-date, and had a lot of amenities, but they were also small. "There's a difference between how we built Frank Tejeda Estates and how we're going to build the new houses," he said.
The new privatized homes are expected to have more amenities, including swimming pools, running tracks and possibly a shoppette run by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service.
"The privatized homes will have new amenities with on-base convenience," said Mr. Heye.
The bulk of questions asked at the meeting included concerns over the crossover to privatization, BAH rates and maintenance issues. Other questions included school districts, floor plans and deployed members at the time of lease signing.
"The town hall meeting was very positive and considered a success," said Frank Dieck, 37th CES housing flight chief. "We're getting the message across that the developer's intent is to mirror Air Force policy."
The following e-mail address has been dedicated to answer questions relating to housing privatization, 37ces.housingpriv@lackland.af.mil, shown as "37 CES Housing Privatization" under the global address listing. For more information, or to view Frequently Asked Questions, visit the Web site at www.lackland.af.mil/housing/ or call 671-1497.