2008 Bah

[Sabre170]

Does anyone know how the BAH rates are determined? I read in another thread about how an Admiral was told, during a recent trip to Whidbey, was told that a top concern for families up here was the BAH. It went down recently and now sailors have a hard time paying their rents.

Is there a survey that we can fill out online or something we can do to try and get the rates back to at least cover rent and with any luck some bills?

 

[MasterBates]

I thought under the new BAH rules (2006?) that once you PCS'd somewhere, you BAH could not go down. Only go up or stay the same? Once you PCS, then it resets to the current rate where you go.

Where is a Super-Chop when you need them to explain this crap?

 

[Crowbar]

BAH Frequently Asked Questions, start about question 11.

 

[bert]

https://secureapp2.hqda.pentagon.mil/perdiem/BAH-Primer-2007.pdf

 

[insanebikerboy]

BAH is determined using a combination of rent out in town and the availability of government or private venture housing. Then they find a median price and go with that. Also, BAH is supposed to be used for rent, it's not intended to cover the price of a mortgage. So, based on the housing survey, "supposedly" half of the people pay more, half pay less than the BAH cost

BAH protection occurs when the BAH rates are changed each year. So, if you're in a specific duty station and making, say, $1000 a month, but come 1Jan it goes down to $950, you'll keep making the $1000.

As for a survey, the BAH committee will usually physically survey the people at a duty location in addition to looking at cost of living in an area and rent so they can get an idea of what people are paying to live. That usually helps even it out since sometimes commercially available data doesn't always reflect true expenses.


*Edit* That .pdf Bert put up pretty much sums it up, beat me to it.

 

[Sabre170]

Crowbar,

Thanks for the link... great resource. Thought I believe the system to be flawed, from my one week so far in Whideby housing hunting and talking with others, I can't see how $1117 will cover rent, untilities and renters insurance. My rent alone is $1350 and the Waste, Water and Garbage is NO LESS THAN $173 every two months.

 

[insanebikerboy]

Sabre, just curious, but is there a large number of government houses and/or privatized housing in Whidby? I ask since having a large number of government houses will cause the BAH to drop, sometimes a good bit.

 

[UMichfly]

edit: didn't read far enough down the reg.

 

[Sabre170]

Whidbey does have government housing (privatized) but there is a waiting list for all of it. The Khaki housing (new stuff) has an indefinite waiting list since they just filled it up. The older WWII erea housing has a about a 4 month list, but after 14 years of marriage it is hard to fit all my stuff into a 1200-1300 square foot house. I am on the list for the new housing but it could be a while. It seems to me unless they raise the BAH here I will be saving several hundred dollars a month living on base.

I was under the impression BAH was suppose to cover the cost of rent plus a percentage of utilities, I just learned that insurance was addes to that equation today. I din't know it was for only 80% of the total.

 

[UMichfly]

I think that it used to be 80% of the total just based on the fact that they consider rent, utilities, and renter's insurance when calculating BAH. The first FAQ in the PDF that Bert posted says "The original BAH law stated that the allowance could cover no more than 80% of housing costs." I just noticed that below that it said that the SECDEF committed himself in 2000 to reducing the out of pocket costs to 0 so I dunno where it stands today and it may be 100% by now.

 

[HH-60H]

I think that it used to be 80% of the total just based on the fact that they consider rent, utilities, and renter's insurance when calculating BAH. The first FAQ in the PDF that Bert posted says "The original BAH law stated that the allowance could cover no more than 80% of housing costs." I just noticed that below that it said that the SECDEF committed himself in 2000 to reducing the out of pocket costs to 0 so I dunno where it stands today and it may be 100% by now.

Actually, in the very sentence you are quoting it says that it reached 100% by 2005.

 

[scoober78]

BAH is only supposed to cover 80% of your housing costs so they're expecting you to take care of that extra out of base pay.

Bad, outdated gouge...period. Read, don't guess.

For the record, Whidbey BAH rates do seem a touch out of whack with reality...my rate would be almost 200$ less on the island than in Corpus Christi....which is utter nonsense.

 

[KBayDog]

The 2008 BAH rates are now available.

 

[Fred]

They are? That page only goes to 2007 for me. It says they will be up on Dec 12.

 

[KBayDog]

Interesting. I just followed the link, and got this page, whose fields work (i.e., show different rates than the current ones).