Living in Military Family Housing or Living Off-base in Virginia

Living in Military Family Housing or Living Off – base in Virginia

             Members who have dependents usually have the option of living on-base in military family housing for free, or off-base and receive a monthly housing allowance. Members who are assigned to locations where dependents are not allowed to travel at government expense (such as basic training, and some unaccompanied overseas assignments) can live in the barracks for free, and still continue to receive the housing allowance (for the location of their dependents), in order to provide a household for their family members.

Requirements for Family Housing:

          To live in military family housing, you must be living in the house with your dependents. There are exceptions for those who are temporarily deployed, or who are serving a remote overseas tour. In these cases, the family members can continue to live in military family housing in Virginia, while the member is away. If you are divorced or unmarried and you have physical custody of a child or children for at least 1/2 the year, you qualify. If you are married and you and your spouse separate and your spouse moves out, you must terminate your family housing within 60 days.

Quality of On-base Family Housing:

           On-base family housing is a crap-shoot. Many bases have outstanding family housing. Other bases have on-base housing that is badly in need of renovation or replacement.

Many bases today have"civilian owned" military family housing. Civilian companies are contracted to build, operate, and maintained family housing, and "rent" it only to military members, in exchange for their housing allowance. Many overseas bases have high-rise on-base family housing units.

Waiting Lists:
       Many bases have a waiting list, ranging from one month to a year for family housing. Therefore, if you want to live on-base, you may have to live off-base for awhile when you first get there. In such cases, the military will move your property to your off-base residence, and then move it to your military family housing when you relocate there.
        Some members may wish to live off-base in order to buy a house, rather than give up their housing allowance to live on-base. Personally, I always avoided buying a house while in the military. I've seen too many people who bought a house, only to receive change of assignment orders, and then have to go through the stress of selling it.