Military Housing/Government Surplus

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) recently introduced legislation to help provide more affordable housing options for military service members and their families.

Virginia Representative Glenn Nye (Dem.) recently announced draft legislation that would improve off-base living conditions for enlisted troops with families by making it easier for them to qualify for affordable housing.

The General Accountability Office has issued a new report on the Military Housing Privatization entitled “Housing Privatization: DOD Faces New Challenges Due to Significant Growth at Some Installations and Recent Turmoil in the Financial Markets.” The report finds that several force structure and infrastructure initiatives are compounding DOD’s and the developers’ challenges in ensuring that affordable and adequate military family housing will exist when needed.

The conference committee has released a summary of appropriations provisions in HR 1: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The measure provides $311 billion in appropriations. Highlights include:

The United State Senate has approved HR1: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on a vote of 61-37. The Congressional Budget Office reports that the current version of the measure would cost $838 billion over ten years. Only three Republicans voted in favor of the measure. The package now heads to a House-Senate conference to resolve differences between the two versions. A compromise measure is expected towards the end of the week. A summary of the key housing and tax credit related provisions include…

Over the weekend Senate Democrats and several moderate Republicans negotiated a compromise version of HR1: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that appears to be poised to pass the United States Senate on Tuesday. A key procedural vote to end debate on the measure passed the Senate on a 61-36 vote Monday evening (February 9).