Privatized Housing

Have you lived on a military installation with privatization?

If you have, throw some comments our way.........

I lived on an Army installation where Picerne Military Housing took over.  I loved them.  They had wonderful customer service, they were very upfront on their policies and when they took over they did not implement new insane policies.  They began building new homes for ALL ranks and the homes turned out really nice.

I am now living on another installation that is privatized and thus far I find it lacking in every arena.  It is a very long story.

The most frustrating issue we had when we moved from one privatized installation to another was money!  Buried in lease agreement was the statement that you must pay up front when moving into privatized military housing, but we were not told this during our advance phone calls and the website we searched said nothing, notta, about advance payment for housing.  See, our family didn't move to our prior installation with privatization already in place, they took over after we had been in housing for two years.  SO, our family was not aware of that little $$ issue.  Now living on a military installation is just like renting off post, you sign a lease and you pay up front.

It worked out okay for us.  We cleared housing the 30th of the month.  Picerne did the needed paperwork to stop receiving our BAH and we did receive our BAH for the following month on our next paycheck.  This allowed us to pay the up front pro-rated rent at our next installation.

You could run into problems when moving though, for example, if you clear housing and leave today and arrive at your next installation on 15 January......You will be expected to pay pro-rated rent up front at your new installation, but your previous installation will still be getting your BAH for the entire month of January and you will have to wait until some point in (hopefully) February to receive your BAH 'refund' from the previous installation. 

You must now plan ahead differently, from a finance standpoint, when living on a privatized installation than you previously would have done for non-privatized military housing.

I am not an authority on privatized housing and it appears that each installation and company does things differently.  I had many high hopes for privatization when I initially read about it years ago.  Some of my hopes have been met, but I still have frustration in that each company does things differently.  I had hoped that once all installations were privatized, that we could all expect more streamlined housing policies service wide, for all installations.  That has not proved to be the case in our family's experience, but it would be nice!  Lease lengths are different at each installation along with a laundry list of other policies.

What have your privatized experiences been?  Super, really ugly?  What company have you dealt with?  Are you paying utilities yet?  Give us the skinny!!!

Links:

RCI Partner List

Residential Communities Initiative (RCI)

Comments

[Allison]

We lived in privatized housing that was run by Clark Pinnacle. I've got no complaints. Repairs were done in a timely manner. We didn't have to do any of the lawn work. They had the same pro-rated rent when we moved in, but we were made away of it. They were also very understanding when my husband's BAH took awhile to kick in (we had just gotten married). It took MONTHS...by the time Clark Pinnacle recieved the backpay, they were owed over $5,000. Now that we've moved away, however, they're starting to have problems. Money was mismanaged for the building of brand new housing, so only two out of 9 stages of demolition and building have been completed. Everything is on hold, because the company claims they don't have any more money, even though they were given a set amount of money upfront for ALL of the construction. There are half built houses just sitting there, with no work being done on them. It's ridiculous!

[Nikki]

We haven't lived in privatized housing yet, but we might when we get to our new station in July (still having the quarters/economy debate).
My question is one I can't find in any of the other categories, but I might have missed it:
I know they take your BAH when you live in privatized housing, but do they take the whole thing? And do you have to pay utilities on top of it?
Because, quite honestly, I'm not about to forfeight over $900 to live in quarters that aren't worth that much. I've heard stories, such horrible stories, and if I can get a nice place on the economy for that much, I just might.
I'm kinda new to this whole thing. The dh has been in for about 2 1/2 years, but we live off base where we are and when I was a Brat (dad's retired Army. Glutton for punishment, I am) there was no privatized housing, it was on-base or off. That was it.
Thanks for any info.

[Love My Tanker]

Nikki~
They do take ALL of your BAH.

Utilities are on top of that, but not all installations are charging utilities YET. Once they do begin to charging, you are suppose to get a utility allowance and anything you use above that will come out of your pocket. If you use less, you supposedly get a refund.

Hope that helps. Maybe someone else that is already being charged utilities can chime in?

[airforcewife]

Our base privatized in September. It's horrible. Yardwork? They were supposed to do it, it's not getting done. I still have leaves around my house and it's January.

We raked ourselves at first, but were horrendously frustrated at a company getting our BAH money and not holding up their end of the bargain.

Gutters have not been cleaned, and it's starting to look pretty bad. Also, they banned dog breeds (although my dog was grandfathered in), so families moving here with a Fido on their banned list will not be able to live on base.

There were no swimming lessons this year, either. The housing company did not want to pay the insurance.

They also moved recycling pick up to once every two weeks rather than once a week - which is the norm for civilians. We no longer recycle because we can't remember when to put the cans out.

When we move again, if it is at all possible, we will NOT be living on a base with privatized housing. It's a racket and so far here has seemed like a sure fire way to soak the government.

Its sad, really, we dearly love the community on base otherwise.

[Nikki]

Bummer....
This whole BAH, utilities, privitized housing conumdrum (spelled right?)makes me feel like such a newb.

Thanks for the info. We'll be on the West Coast, and I haven't heard anything horribly negative yet from there, but other places seem to have mixed reviews. Anyone on the West Coast (particularly Puget Sound Area), what's the housing actually like? I'm considering having my MIL drive up to our duty station (she lives south) and check it out for us... :)

[Kimberley]

We are stationed at Schofield Barracks, HI. The private housing has built new houses but they are for lower ranks, paying less BAH. The higher enlisted that is pay $2,400 a month or more is living in housing that belongs on the demolishing list. All, of the higher enlisted are moving off post. We save money and live in a nicer place. I don't think it is all about money. If so, they would be trying to keep the high enlisted money makers on post.

[Allison]

At our old duty station, the company that had taken over housing was monitoring the utitlies usage in select houses. From the data they collect, they're coming up with an "average" amount of gas, water, and electricity that families should be using. If you use more than the average, you pay the difference. If you use less, at the end of the year, you get a refund equivalent to how much you saved. At least that's how that particular housing area is doing it.

[Krystyn]

In response to NikKi--I am a Navy wife living in privatized housing in the Puget Sound area (Bremerton/Silverdale, WA). They do take all of our BAH, however we do not have to pay any utilities. We have been here a year and we have no complaints at this point. Maintenance calls are taken care of almost immediately, The grounds are taken care of and the staff is very nice!!! Hope that helps.

[Heidi]

We started out without privitized housing at our last base and when it changed to be privatized we got a bad deal. Yeah, they took really good care of the people in the new and renovated houses, but the people in the old houses couldn't get anything done. When something big broke - all we heard was "Well we can't fix that because we're tearing your house down in a couple of years." In the meantime, we still had to live in it. We had to fight for anything to get fixed. Supposedly they did the yard work - that meant that they did a crappy job of mowing the lawn - nothing else. One other little complaint...rarely did people get in trouble for breaking the rules. I'm not talking about petty things, but big things where quite a few people complained about the same people and the same problems over and over. That made alot of our experiences bad ones. Maybe our next experience will be better, but we're hoping to live off base next time.

[Kel]

YIKES! i dont live where its privatized at least as far as i know since we do EVERYTHING ourselves and get notices if things are not done fast enough or our grass doesnt literally mesuare up on their ruler. but aside form things like that i cant complain. I would be very upset if i was paying out and they were to do all the lawn care and didnt provide. that i would not be able to keep my mouth shut about.

[ElisaW]

This topic is a can of worms I think.

The pay up front and wait for your BAH refund to come in the mail from the place you just left is a money nightmare when moving, that much is true.

One company kept their end of the bargin, they got lots of money for my crappy house (in order to fund building new homes) and kept my yard mowed and service calls were promptly dealt with.

Another company we deal with now is horrible. Their staff is always rude, they do not understand what customer service means, I also still have leaves in my gutters, no screens on my windows that were promised long ago and they act like forking out our BAH each month is a gift to them.

They also have only built new housing for senior NCOs, nothing to date for junior enlisted or officers and both of those categories live in, in my opinion, the worst housing the military. They are also reducing the total number of available housing on the installation with their new building. Nicer houses I guess, but fewer of them. Like not enough houses on post isn't already a problem.

I understand that our BAH goes to build future new housing, but us having to pay all of our BAH for the same type of house that a pay grade lower is living in next door and paying less for, sucks. I also hate that they have stopped giving out name a rank for our houses, I constantly have UPS guys stopping and asking if I know where so and so lives b/c no names are on houses anymore, ditto for packages via USPS. Same goes for overgrown bushes around house numbers, no one can find my house b/c they have not yet trimed the bushes and we have no name on our house. That seems silly I suppose, but rank is earned and having that and who you are on the outside is a tradition.

I would trim my own bloody bushes if they weren't 10 ft tall and I had to climb a ladder! LOL

[k]

We started out on post but moved just before they privatized. We have no kids so we had the small space in the middle of a townhouse with noisy, trashy neighbors on both sides. We knew ahead of time that the new housing company would get all our BAH and that legislation was in the works to start charging for electricty. We also knew that we would be living next to people that had bigger spaces and were paying less b/c their BAH rate was different. Our post is in a high cost of living area so the BAH allowance is on the high end of the scale. We did the math and some research and figured out it would actually be better to move off post. We are in a quiet neighborhood, in a bigger/better house, and the rent is actually less than our BAH rate so for us it worked out. You definately have to do some comparing and number crunching to decide whether it's worth it to live on or off post.

[dora]

just out of curiosity, has anyone ever lived at ft. ord in monterey califonia at the presidio of monterey? that's where we're headed in a few weeks, but we've heard . . . stories about the housing. so we're unsure. if anyone can email me at bizarre_fascinations@hotmail.com that would be great.

[Brandi H]

We moved from a post that was recently privatised by Picerne and found that they were a great company. They did everything that they said they were going to do and in a timely manner. It wasn't a huge deal to give the BAH because quarters were decent,(we lived in a newly renovated home) and they did all lawncare, pest control and maintenance etc.. We PCS'd to Texas in May, and did decide to live on post. They are privatised here as well, but what a difference in how things are managed!!!! I wish now that we had never decided to stay on post. I am so unhappy with our situation, especially because of the maintenance or lack there of. Currently, I have been waiting for two and a half days for someone to come and unclog the kitchen sinks. Both sides are clogged, and it ran into the dishwasher and was all over the floor. I now have stagnant water just sitting in the sink and dishwasher, and it is disgusting!! It is not an "emergency" though, so I just have to deal with it. They said 24 hours....still waiting!!! We pay $1000.00 a month for a two bedroom one bath, less than 1000 sq ft. dump, basically. We only have one child and dh hasn't been pinned E-7 yet, so this is what we qualify for. Although, neighbor next door was an E-4, with no children and got a 3 bedroom...go figure. Just waiting for school to end so we can move off post. Will never deal with these people again!! If the company will do what is suppossed to do, it can be a good thing.

[dizzylizzie]

/RANT ON!

We live on post at ft. eustis (aka ft. usless) virgina. we've never lived on post before and NOW I KNOW WHY! this place is HORRID! and i mean that in the strongest sense. my father in law just visited recently and told me welfare people wouldnt live here!

we have lead in our water with levels so high GMH sent out notices recommending us to buy a brita filter to put on your tap becaues they werent gonna fix it since they were just tearing down these houses in a few years.

they build nice new shnazy houses for E7 and up but the rest of us get stuck in the ghetto and i do mean
G-H-E-T-T-O.

the folks at GMH are rude, inconsiderate and LAZY! i have complained many times about my neighbors (who know its me complaining about them because they're on the end and i'm their only neighbor) trash, noise, fights, their lawn growing 5 FEET TALL, and unrelated people LIVING THERE SINCE APRIL. now i got those people harrasing me to the point where i cant even step outside to smoke without them yelling obsenities at me out the window. they've even sent their friends to my door and car to fight me! (jill the mgr. at GMH even told me at one point "well we have people from all walks of life living here, you'll just have to adjust to their ecletic lifestyle")the MP's wont do anything becasue they didnt see it happen and GMH refuses to evict them despite their STACK of tickets, violations and BLATENT disregard for the rules of living on post. i even got video tape of them (so i could prove it to the MPs) violating the rules and harrassing me (the MP's finally went to the servicemembers command but it didnt do any good, i'd even say it made it worse) and GMH STILL wont evict them! they are so noisy they wake the baby up from her nap EVERY SINGLE DAY! yelling and screaming (both the kids and adults) and throwing stuff. i can hear things breaking, things bouncing off the walls! my baby shares her wall with their master bedroom wall which is apparently their major hangout place.

these houses were built in like 1942 and havent been touched since. my gutters have 4ft. long cracks and holes in them jam packed with pine needles so when it rains hard the needles dam up the water until it gets so full the sheer weight and pressure bursts out all the packed stuff slamming onto the ground. the beams and rafters are full of squirl nests (we even had one squirl electricute itself on the electric box outside connected to the siding and GMH would NOT come and remove it!) and we have what we call our 'phantom toillet' becasue it flushes all by itself dozes of times a day all on its own!

oh and i wont even get into the sewer back up that left all sorts of stinky, lumpy, black smudge sludge in our front yards. what'd they do? sprinkle some white stuff on it and say 'a couple of good rains and it will drain off' needless to say what grass i did have there is now gone. oh, and did i mention that one of the 'groundskeepers' riding a lawn mower ran over the hand of a 3-4 yr old last summer? all fingers but the thumb were severed off. he claims he didnt see the child.

the folks in the new housing do have to pay utilites on top of thier BAH but we dont because our dinosaur age housing isnt energy efficent.

NEVER.AGAIN.

the only reason we havent moved out is because downtown newport news is much scarier than living on post. we pay 1128 a month for a condemned dump that should have been burned to the ground fifteen years ago.

[Jane_smith]

I have spent the past two days wondering out this exact thing myself... We got an assignment notification to Ft Drum this week and I am having a heck of a time trying to get info. We are an Air Force family so we do not have AKO accounts and can't seem to access any of the stuff that matters. Does anyone on here live there currently? I am thinking of living on base for the first time when we get there but have no personal experience with privatized housing (nor does anyone I know.)I tried calling the housing office yesterday but the lady on the phone acted like she didn't really have time to answer any questions and just told me to come by there when we arrive. I'm assuming that that means we can't get on the housing waiting list there like you can at all the Air Force bases we've both been stationed at. If anyone out there has any recent or current knowledge of the situation at Ft Drum I would be eternally grateful if you'd be willing to answer a few questions. My e-mail address is cherri_smith@yahoo.com. Oh yeah, we're PCSing in two weeks but have no idea when we will actually be arriving on station since Hubby has to go to retraining tech-school en route. The Air Force still hasn't been kind enough to let us know where the rest of the family will be going while hubby is in school. So typical.

P.S. I'm not some bitter military hating spouse, just frustrated that things are still so up in the air 2 weeks out.

[dizzylizzie]

jane,
i dont think anyone here is a military hating spouse, i think most of us are just fed up of being treated so poorly.

ive never been to ft. drum, ny but we've looked at it online. to us, it looked like a very nice family oriented place to live, we put it on our top 3 'wish list' for pcs. i've heard from some, its out 'in the middle of nowhere'. if you do a google search i'm sure you could find some more in depth information.

[dizzylizzie]

jane,
these should get you started.

http://www.fortdrummch.com/

http://www.drum.army.mil/sites/local/

http://www.fdrlo.org/

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fort-drum.htm

[Nikki]

Yikes, these stories sound horrible. How is this legal?
Has anyone tried going to the media with this? I mean, if the country is truely into "supporting the troops", how is having their families living in squallor considered support? Nobody, even the military (I would assume) likes bad PR.
Now I'm terrified about what I might find at NAS Whidbey Island. Anyone in privitized housing there right now that could tell me if it's bad or not? I'm so sending the MIL (who lives south of there) up to scout around before we get there. :P

[Rick]

Wow, I lived in base housong on schofield barracks from '79 to '82. The ones that were like apartments. 2 bedroom, 1 bath, even came with a laundry room and washer and dryer. Had to do the yard work ourselves but the yards were small anyway. They were fairly new at the time and we never really needed repairs. The ablolute worst thing I will never ever forget about them was trying to get that darn red clay out of the white lanoleum floor when I was trying to clear quarters in '82. That almost killed me LOL. We never paid utilities, we just forfieted our housing allowance. It was a pretty good deal in those days.

[Krystyn]

Nikki--

The privatized housing here on Bangor and Whidbey Island are managed my the same company -- American Eagle Communities. Like I said before, we have not had any problems. The staff is very friendly. You can go to www.navylifepnw.com or www.navyonestop.com for more info on that specific area.

[Nikki]

To Krystyn -
That's wonderful news! I wasn't sure if they were both managed by the same company...I'm new to the whole thing and don't know how the management distribution goes. Thank you for the info.

BTW, I love this board. I've been reading it now for about three months and have given the site address a few spouses that are newer than me. It's been awesome to see that I'm not completely on my own in all this.

[Jane_smith]

dizzylizzie: Thanks for the links. I'd found a couple of them on google already but there was one that you sent that gave me a little more info about housing. I was hoping to get some info from someone who lives/has lived there... After about 5 PCSs I learned that what the websites and brochures show isn't always what you get. Not having a sponsor is making things much more difficult when it comes to decisions about housing and such... Thanka again for the info!

[dizzielizzie]

no prob jane, when you get there and settled in, can you let me know how it is? DH is trying so hard to get us off this base and ft drum is our first choice on the wish list but as you've said we know what you see isnt always what you get

[Jane_smith]

No problem... It's looking like we are going to be getting there in the summer instead of next month. I guess the Army has rules that say we can't go there until hubby is done with Tech school and physically signs in at the new unit. I will get back on here as soon as we are there and get our HHG shipment to let you know the scoop. Maybe if you guys get orders there after we arrive I could be your "unofficial" wife/family stuff sponsor. :)

[dizzielizzie]

sounds good to me :D
he's filling out the PCS request from iraq so maybe that means we wont be able to move up there either until he gets back? i dunno how that works, i just cant wait to get outta here!

[knotheadusc]

We've lived in privatized housing on Fort Belvoir since October 2003 (okay, technically since Dec. 2003, since that's when Clark Pinnacle took over). We just moved into our brand new house this week after living in a fairly decent single family house for three years. I have to say, life on Belvoir hasn't been too bad, although this move has been a pain. My husband is deploying in 2 weeks, but then when he gets back this summer, we're PCSing to Germany.

Clark Pinnacle hasn't been too bad, although there have been some times when I've felt like they didn't really understand military culture very well. We've also had some snafus with our move, although they are slowly getting resolved. The maintenance people are pretty good and they do respond fairly promptly to work orders.

What I don't like is the fact that the new homes are so close together! Our old house had a nice little yard and was set back away from the main road. In our new house, we're about six feet from a busy street with bright street lamps beaming into our bedroom at night. Also, the homes are designed in such a way that it's easy to look into other peoples' houses. There's no privacy.

But for the most part, I've found the folks at Clark Pinnacle easy enough to deal with even though there was one jerk who told those of us who were complaining that "no one was forcing us to live on post". With that attitude, I think they're going to find a lot of people voting with their feet.

My husband is a LTC, so our house fetches a lot of BAH for Clark Pinnacle. We were lucky enough to get a free standing house. If he ever manages to make COL, it would probably be worth it for us to move to Belvoir Village, which has gorgeous huge houses for senior officers that overlook the Potomac River and have nice yards with lots of wildlife.

I've seen the housing at Fort Eustis, having grown up there... All I have to say is that it really does look very ghetto. Hope they tear it down soon!

[dizzielizzie]

knot,

GMH is promising these houses will be torn down BUT the rumors are flying like crazy.

when the new houses first opened we were told the junior enlisted were getting in first because they had just gutted and rehabb'd the senior enlisted houses and our houses, besides the lead water issue, had serious mold issues and some folks were getting sick. then, they only let E6 and up into the new houses leaving us like WHHAAAT?!
then they told us another story about the new houses taking longer to build than anticipated so it would be at least another year or so before we got in. then they changed it AGAIN to, its still gonna be at least a year or two BUT our neighborhood is second on the list to be demolished. NOW its being changed again because there's a chance when ft. monroe closes they're being assigned to this base so they could be getting the new houses before us.

i tell ya mother theresa would be ripping her hair out about this place.

[Maint Toad1]

Looking for more information on who, what, when, where, why, and how? Try this link:
http://www.acq.osd.mil/housing/
After you enter the site, under the tab. "Housing Projects" you can sort by state or base or status of project. And finally as a reminder ... our friendly US Congress controls how much is spent, where it's spent and approves "level of effort" determining to a large degree, "who gets what." Housing Privatization shouldn't be the scarlet letter (or two, I guess) to be hung around the military services necks, they are simply trying to do the best in "managing" the cards "our elected" Congress deals them. Lastly, remember that construction budgets are "planned" as multi-year programs, but "funded" *each* year. (and that, is a whole 'nother post.) O&O, Toad

[Cvs]

i have been quite disturbed to see the focus of all newer homes going to lower enlisted over the last 6 years - since we PCS'd from our own home in Texas to germany and then to Hawaii. In Germany the nicer housing was for the lower enlisted and included 2 bathrooms for a 3 bedroom and a private washer/dryer. For us with a 3 bedroom we got 1 bathroom and the laundry room in the basement. Living on the 3rd floor. When we PCs'd to Hawaii we hoped it would be better because of the privatized housing...Were we ever wrong! Senior enlisted is stuck in cinderblock homes with these weird windows and NO space...I swear it was smaller than even the place in Germany. I told my husband we lived in a cave! We had to move out because of heath issues of our daughter (she is EFMP for several reasons). The Privitized housing people REFUSED to put us inthe brand new housing and after a month of fighting and having the housing manager yell at me, they finally moved us. Not to the new houses that the Dr's (all 3 of them- including the head of the EFMP) said we should be in, but a newer home in the lower enlisted area. I was so exhausted by fighting I just gave up. The new place is great though compared to where we were. I guesss I have a point here and it is this. The Army is so worried about the lower enlisted not re-upping that they are (from what i have seen) getting the better end of everything. What happened to paying you dues and working your way up? I remember being a E-4 wife and looking at senior enlisted housing and thinking it was so much nicer...and no offense but that is the way I feel it should be. BTW we have problems with the "yard maintenence" they say they provide as well, and long for the days that someone would come around and give citations for messy yards. Does no one have pride in where they live?

[dizzielizzie]

CVS,
i dont expect we should be in the new houses, what i expect is our housing should NOT make us sick. we have black mold, turds in our yard from sewer back ups, unhealthy levels of lead in our water, and rodents. what i DO expect is clean, resonable place to call home and we dont have that.

my girlfriend across the street and her four kids are all (including the 9 mos old baby) on FIVE different medications from the black mold. she is speaking with a pro bono laywer about sueing GMH.

we have to stop the neighborhood kids DAILY from playing on/with the trash and baseball with the turds and sticks.

i should not have to buy a brita filter and have my baby get a blood tested for lead levels at checkups.

and i certainly should not be removing the corpse of an electricuted squirl from the side of my house!

in our situation the senior enlisted already had their housing completely re-habbed with all new wood floors, new sinks, fixtures and countertops and all new carpet upstairs plus new windows, doors and screen doors, and kitchen cabnits. and they're housing didnt have the health issues ours do. and they still came first for the rehab and they ended up with the new houses anyway.

safety should come before rank.

i would have been more than happy with a rehabbed house providing the health issues were resolved.

[amanda]

I'm not sure what we did right but so far we have been for lucky. We live in a 2 bedroom one bath and in about a month and half we are moving into a 3 bedroom 2 bath that is redone. They do everthing here and really my only complaint is that they start so early in the morning. I know it's not gonna help but i'm sorry that so many ppl have so many issues with military housing because so far our exsperiance have been really good.

[LAW]

knot, thanks for letting me know about Belvoir. I was wondering, how far is a metro/train station? After he gets back after this extension, we are going Active (the NG gets crapped on too much) and he is hoping for Belvoir. I want to rent off post, but want to check it all out and have things ready for when he gets here.

He's CW2, so how is that housing?

LAW

[Amie Fisher]

Hi there! I am a newbe and curious about Ft.Polk, LA. We are here in SC for hubbie's training but will head to Polk next. Anybody willing to share please email me chasingrory@aol.com Thanks.

Amie

[KCook]

Hey There, my husband and I live on Ft. Gordon and our housing is through GMH...not any major problems so far...they come and fix things right away...except parking...even though we have our own parking spots that are labeled people still insist on parking in our space...when the visitor spot *clearly marked* right next to it is empty...and if it isn't empty...the rest of the visitors spots are on the end...if it was just my husband and me I wouldn't be so nitpicky about it but when we have to walk from the end of the drive up to our house on the other end in the rain carrying a 4 month old in the cold...then it starts to bother me...we tell people POLITELY to please use the guest space...what do they do? come back and park on the line so they park half in our space and half on the guest space...when you move in they give you a packet that tells you what you can and can't do...yet everything it says you can't do...our neighbors are doing...it says don't display flags...everyone has flags...dont put lawn furniture outside of y our fence...they have it...so come spring I'm getting a lawn swing and planting a garden in my frontyard and if anyone complains I'll take pictures of their infractions and then I bet they'll keep their mouths shut...so I guess it's not really GMH as much as it is the people we live next to...I just reread that and it sounded incredibly petty haha but I'm just irritated by it!

[dizzylizzie]

well, at least they're parking on pavement. my crazies next door park on the front lawn. and their 'guests'(aka unauthorized people living with them) too

i wonder if you could call a tow truck to remove the problem vehicles?

[Angela8]

We live on base (if you can call it that) in Monterey, CA. The housing is managed by Clark-Pinnacle and while we have few complaints in new housing the people in old housing are really going through it. They have had to deal with electricity and water being cut off with no notice (Pinnacle hasn't paid some of the electricity bills for 6 months evidently), a terrible mold problem (some people even have mushrooms growing in their bathrooms), ants and so on and so on. To add insult to injury we have just found out that they are allowing civilians to move into our neighborhood at a rate well below many people's BAH but when we ask if we as civilian wives can sign the contract at the same rate as civilians we are told that, no, they get to take our full BAH regardless. So our neighborhood is asking how is that legal and fair to the military. What it amounts to is people are living in horrendously crappy houses and paying over $2000 in BAH and civilians are renting for $400-$800 less depending on the size of the house. The other issue is why do civilians get to live in 4 bedroom houses regardless of family size but military members are turned away from 3-4 bedroom homes unless they "rate" them. Plus, we live in a very high cost area and there are many Junior enlisted military member here attending DLI. By renting to civilians it is going to cause a shortage of housing and there is no way they would be able to live on the economy around here, especially if they have a family. Oh yeah and did I mention the recent rash of Graffiti artists that have invaded both new and old housing, the broken windows of the houses that aren't occupied, and the empty beer bottles that are thrown on lawns in the middle of the night. All this and we get no info from anyone at Clark-Pinnacle, even after repeated attempts to get answers, as to when the issues will be resolved (the graffiti is still there and the windows are still broken). Our laundry list goes on and on. We will never again live in Privatized housing, it has left an extremely sour taste in our mouths!!!

[knotheadusc]

LAW,

I don't think your husband will have any trouble getting housing on Belvoir. My husband is a LTC and our neighbor is a Warrant Officer. His house is similar to ours, although he's made it clear that he's unhappy here. He hates dogs and at least six families in the neighborhood (including ours) have dogs. The new houses are close together or joined and the backyards are fenced and connect the houses together.

Personally, I think the way the new houses are built makes it hard for people to get to know each other. The only way the houses can be accessed is through the front or back door or through the backyard. But the yards and backdoors can only be accessed through the garages. The backdoors also don't have doorbells. So if you want to visit your neighbor, you have to walk around the block to ring their front doorbell.

Also, in my old house, there was distance between my house and the next one. But I could see when my neighbors were home. Now, even though my house is fifteen feet away from the next one, I can't tell when my neighbors are home. And yet, there are windows that can't be covered (without using a ladder) and offer a view into my neighbors' houses.

Some people might like not having to talk to their neighbors, but to me it doesn't seem much in the spirit of the close knit communities in the military. Luckily, most of us in this neighborhood already know each other because we used to live in the old neighborhood together.

The house itself is okay. It's very large and there's plenty of room for me, my two dogs, and my absent husband.

[Jerry Anderson]

OH BOY, the Picerne Nightmare. What a crock company and a sham. First off, they are at Bragg cutting corners to milk the soldier and then the Army tells them to tear them back down and start over!

They continually build new Housing Centers (for their employees mostly) and they go up rather quickly and first. While soldiers are stuck in hotels waiting for homes.

Now if you are an officer or E-7 and above you are treated like royalty. If not, then you are just another number, they could care less if you stay on the list or not.

Oh yeah, the list. We arrived in November, got on the list at Position 35 and in two days dropped, YES DROPPED to 40th. When asked, why, they said, "Oh, people coming from Korea get priority!" WHY HAVE A LIST?

Now they want to make you pay utilities?

I hope everyone of those Picerne people die of a horrible disease! I have never had a company not care about their soldiers and pretend they do like picerne.

In order to get the new housing you have to be in an old crappy home, (unless you are E-7 or above) and hope you are in the path of demolition. But that means a while, or whenever they feel like building quality homes.

If you are coming to Bragg, stay away from Picerne at all costs, they are a scam and the worst thing for the military.

[maria]

we lived in private housing on base in bangor, WA. i hated washington, but the housing was real nice. they took good care of it and maintenance was there in a second. they were hard core on the condition of the house upon leaving (we had painted some walls in bedrooms and even though we repainted everything white per lease agreements, they still charged us 800 dollars for paint!!!!!!!!) that sucked.

[maria]

we lived in private housing on base in bangor, WA. i hated washington, but the housing was real nice. they took good care of it and maintenance was there in a second. they were hard core on the condition of the house upon leaving (we had painted some walls in bedrooms and even though we repainted everything white per lease agreements, they still charged us 800 dollars for paint!!!!!!!!) that sucked.

[Melissa COllins]

I am at Ft. Eustis, my husband is deployed to Iraq and is on his way back on MArch 31st. We called ahead to housing to see about the waiting list. We were told that everything was fine and that we were the next on the list. WHAT A DUMP. The two houses that they showed me were damanged beyong belief. There was no way I was going to move my children into the houses. I am going back in on Monday to talk to me about this and if need be, I am taking this all the way to the top. And I am livid at GMH....oh way, when I asked about the new housing, they said they were already pre-leased. When I asked GMH to prelease a house before I got there, so I could have a home when I moved. They told me no, but all of a sudden they are preleasing new housing. I think GMH is the worst and the military (at least on the ARmy side) is not all helpful to families.

[Colleen Miller]

Picerne has been a huge disapointment to our family of 3. No housing was available when we arrived a year ago March 1st 2006 at Ft. Polk, and, we are still without proper housing. They have all these rules about who gets priority over who on the housing list and we have only seen our name slip farther and farther down the list. We have different sexed children our son 5years old now living in the same room with his 19 month old sister. We just recently were told we have again been denied a move. It is very difficult to fit a 3 person family in an unrenovated 2 bedroom apartment. We have completed our year lease in our apartment and they for some unknown reason feel justified in not letting us out of a waiver we had to sign to even move in to our current apartment. They practice these cruel SOP's that say if you take a bedroom less even if there isn't accomodations suitable for your family that they bind you into a contract stating that you are stuck like chuck until your military dependant's tour of duty is up. There is no hope for us and I don't know why their company isn't prosecuted for unfair treatment to our military soldiers. My husband is prior enlisted and just before moving here graduated from OBC. They said if he had been elisted they would of had a house for him, it was like a slap in the face. Instead of getting better accomodations we get unrenovated apartments to choose from, it is embarrassing to go over to enlisted friends homes here on post and see the difference in their homes compared to the crap we got. I don't invite anyone over, it's to embarrassing. I just want anyone who might be moving here with their families to leave their families behind until something suitable comes available because there isn't any off post housing unless you want something on cinder blocks every couple of feet and run down with no proper community setting. Believe me you don't want to pay 1500$ a month to stay on post at the post hotel for months and months until something comes open. You may do as we did and decide to tuff it out in an apartment, they will never let you leave.

[mongodavy]

We live on Fort Meade. Picerne runs housing here. They are the worst company ever to run the base housing. You can take a look at our living condition at youtube.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BD5htV6WT-E

[mitwit]

Greetings from Fort Ord, Ca. Multiple probelms here in a mixed new and old neighborhood. Utility billing starting soon but confusion reigns. Directives state electric billing only but they are mock billing gas also. Meeting next week. Most recent big problem ...privatized house nearby leased improperly to a registered sex offender close to a school. Meeting monday. Other probs with computer and cell connectivity.

[sistersoldier]

We live in privatized housing at Monterey, CA and for the most part have enjoyed it. I understand that there will be conflict when some people are living in new homes while most are not. This is a process that is intended to do good for military families and so far has improved my quality of life. I didn't have to pay first and last month rent to move in and that meant I could keep about $4,000 in savings. My children go to good schools and we are close to my husband's work. I have great neighbors who are military and have made instant friendships.

Clarke Pinnacle is our private company and although it was confusing in the beginning, I do believe it is improving. Once I got over the fact that Congress was making all privatized housing do the utility billing, I felt somewhat better. So far, we'll fallen in the "average" and shouldn't have to pay anything. I believe the folks in our management company are doing the best they can, but do agree they are lacking significantly in understanding military culture. While the housing is privatized, the primary audience is active duty military who couldn't be further from your typical civilian. I just wish that Clark Pinnacle would make an effort to understand the military...it seems we have become just another customer to a giant corporation and that's sad. At least under the government, we knew what to expect. Overall, though, I must say that this is better housing than we have lived in at other places. It's not modern, it's not fancy, it's not new, but it is clean and well maintained and because it's small, we spend a lot of time outside meeting our neighbors and taking advantage of the great climate here. I'm not complaining because my husband could be in Iraq...instead, he's in a school environment and is home with us every night. Guess my priorities just don't center on the structure that surrounds me.

[Sandra]

I just came home from looking at fort ord for housing because my husband is at the DLI, However i do not agree with you about how nice it is, first off the newer homes are gorgeous while the older homes are crap, i did not pay 40,000 in student loans to live in a shack, i asked about mold, they said it was a problem, i have small children that are severely allergic to mold I WOULD NEVER LIVE THERE.

[Anonymous Army Spouse]

It baffles me that adult men and women who have elected to join the military behave like snot-nose, crying, woe-is-me, give-me-give-me, juveniles. You are adults WITH children; no one is RESPONSIBLE for putting a roof over your head except the head of household...the HUSBAND; NOT the Army and NOT privatized companies. Privatization of on-post housing was REQUESTED by the U.S. Army because Army funds were not available to improve existing living conditions. Accordingly, if it were not for the private companies funding the housing improvements, you and your families would continue to dwell in the "GHETTO's" as you affectionately lable the place you ACCEPTED as your home. When PCSing between installations, keep in mind that moving on-post is a CHOICE and it is a PRIVILEGE; not a RIGHT. If it were your RIGHT, you would not have to be placed on a waiting list; a home would be available for you upon your arrival. The only RIGHT you have is to chose on-post housing or off-post housing. It is not a REQUIREMENT that you live on-post...remember this the next time you choose to be placed on a waiting list for on-post housing, accept a home and move in. Complaining afterwards is a little too late. Grow up; aren't you supposed to be MEN and SOLDIERS! Quit your wining. The best possible solution when trying to accommodate your family with specific housing requests is to take your BAH and PURCHASE the home of your choice. It's really simple, MEN.

[Annoyed USMC Wife]

My husband and I live on Fort Belvoir in VA right now. I have nothing but complaints about living on base, so I figured this is the best place to express them. My husband is an E-5 and we have no kids. Therefore, in the world of military housing, we do not rate a new house. We live in an old house with no garage. Also, did I mention that in the summer we have lizards running around on the inside which maintenance has told us to "catch with a sticky trap?" It takes weeks to get maintenance orders filled because since my husband is not an officer, we don't really matter.

I guess my main question is...why are we not able to get a new house because I went to college and have a full-time job and therefore do not have kids? Yet some wife who has no job and 800 million kids get a brand new house that they don't really appreciate?

These new houses come with fenced in yards and garages. Yet, several families fill their garages with boxes instead of cards, as if the 1500+ square footage doesn't have enough room for storage.

My husband and I would move off base in a heartbeat. However, our $1789/month of BAH won't really get you much in the Northern Virginia/DC area. So here we are, stuck in our crappy little house with our white trash neighbors who can't bring in their garbage can, while E7 and above get to reap the benefits of my BAH being way above what my house actually costs per month.

If anybody has any idea/solutions as to how to get the housing department to listen to people who are below E-7, I would love to hear from you. E-mail preferably.

[Annoyed USMC Wife]

Dear Anonymous Army Spouse,

Per your comment above, I am assuming that you just sit at home and do nothing, since you are saying that it is the HUSBAND's job to provide. Well, some of us wives also have jobs where yes we do make more than our husbands. However, maybe you should try living in the DC area where your BAH doesn't really get you much but a 800 square foot apartment in a high rise. Not all of us have kids.

Apparently you haven't lived in the DC area where a house 20 miles outside the city will cost you about $600-$800k. So per your solution to go buy a house, our BAH definitely won't cover that.

Next time you decide to start calling military wives juveniles and whiners, maybe you should take a look into the lives of families that are stationed in other places besides where you are at, and maybe you could possibly understand.

Or perhaps you can continue to work at the commissary and PX with your 800 kids and no education and keep posting on this website...

[proud army wife and mother]

I am going to make this short and sweet, well at least I am going to try to. I really am just responding to the post from
Annoyed USMC Wife on Ft. Belvoir. I think that you sounds ignorant and closed minded. If your neighbor wants to have 800 kids then so be it. If you choose not to then so be it. But for you to come to a website meant for SUPPORT and blast the decisions of a fellow military spouse is IGNORANT! For all you know this might be your trashy neighbor with 800 kids. For all you know she could hold a PHD and chose to stay home and raise her kids because she CAN. So please before you come to a website meant for support and love, check your ignorance and rude behavior.

[slbrmatbragg]

This comment is for everyone, but I do want to reply to the comments thatknotheadusc made about Picerne catering to SNCOs: Your comments about seniors being treated like royalty are way off. My husband is an E7P and we got stuck in a mold invested home in the corregidor neighborhood and have been there for a little over a year. (we have three children and actually qualify for a 4 bedroom but stuck in a tiny 3 bedroom) Picerne yells at us and I actually had a senior representative get in my face and yell at me when I asked why they wouldn't fix the mold. The lead liason (nameless) stated in the Paraglide recently that the Army stated that lower enlisted were top priority and we would have to deal with it. No offense but the juniors have the Nymegen, Ardennes, Cherbourg, and the newly done Linden Oaks on Hwy 57 to choose from. ALL of which are brand new. Not to mention Ste. Mere Eglise, Bataan, Corregidor Courts, Anzio Acres, and Baston Gables, all of which are to be completely renovated soon. The only brand new homes available for senior NCOs are Hammond Hills and a few scattered in the Nymegen neighborhood.....and you have to be a friend of a friend to even be considered for those houses because there is absolutley no list for those. I know this is a while after your post but I felt the need to clarify that. I have done my research and spent the whole year observing the situation. I feel that rank should have its privledges. Just like a Col. should live in a better home than a SFC, A SFC should live in a better home that a PFC. It is all about retention with Washington. I am glad to be going back to an area where GMH is in control because they do care about the seniors and the housing out in CO run by them takes care of the SNCOs. Basically this post is to show that not all seniors are being treated the way other perceive them to be. We have even been ordered not to contact relocation because we kept asking them why we were stuck in the house we live in when others are moving in there without qualifying for them. Their answer is that if we don't like it move off post then. Picerne only cares about the BAH they receive from everyone, seniors, juniors and officers alike. It is ALL about the money. I see them cutting corners at every opportunity they can get. Anyway, that is my experience with privatized housing and their lack of concern for any soldier and his or her families. I know we all have our own horror stories and this was just an overview of mine. It is worse believe me but I can not speak of it at this time.

[knotheadusc]

Um... I didn't make any such comment about Picerne.

[slbrmatbragg]

I am sorry I meant the one below your comment...my eyes played a trick on me, please accept my apology. Thanks.

[monique]

Well I didn't really choice to live on base.. we had no choice here in the middle of nowhere.. if we lived off base it would take my huband driving 80 miles a day to get to and from work... we had no choice with gas prices as they are here in CA.. When we first got here they stuck us right in the "ghetto" and said don't worry you will be out of this in 3 months as they are building new houses around us!.. i thought cool.. i can handle that..well we have been here a year now and None of my doors or window seal. when the san anna winds come i don't dust.. i farm my house... dead trees that surround my house {dead cause we live in the desert!!} have managed to break my kids bedroom window 2 times now!... we were charged $500 deposit on what they said at the time was to pay for the new rugs they just put in the houses... ok.. i have not one stitch of rug in my house!!!.. my porch fell off the house... my neighbors roof tiles blow in my yard when it is windy...my heater sticks on the on possition when you turn it on. and we have power outagous all the time!! and we pay almost $2000 for this "hole".. and yes.. we do call in for repairs all the time.. lol.. you know how they fixed my windows and doors this winter.. lol.. they duct taped them!!!.. so i am not complaining for nothing... they are moving all the officers and such to the new housing.. {which do look nice} and we are stuck here.. because they will not move us!.. now they have started construction on another part of the base which has no people there to move and we are still sitting here in the "ghetto".. dodging falling roofs and all...Thanks Pinnacle!!
I am not whinning.. I am sick of "Slumlords" running our base housing.. !!

[CLR]

Okay, I've read a lot of comments. Good and bad. Right now I am having a difficult time with Clark Pinnacle. I have lived in housing 30 years of my 43 years. I am an Army Brat. I can see that the forces that be are trying to make things better. However, THEY ARE FAILING MISERABLY. Who knows better what a military family really needs, then a military family? Who feels what a military family feels-a military family. I am researching ways to make a difference. Does anyone out there know of where to start? I am currently working the ICE system and collecting all my data. My family and I are re-pcsing back to FT Belvoir. We lived here for 5 years, left for 2(just as Clark Pinnacle) was taking over and are back again. We will have to live off post. The housing situation here is a big political lie. The new housing looks great, but the old time family neighborhood atmosphere has been destroyed in search of the almighty dollar. To all those who live in the old crappy housing, that is dated and falling apart, enjoy the commarder of your neighbors. The old military bonding is becoming a dinosaur. I would appreciate any feedback on my search to make the housing situation better. Have a great day and thank you all for supporting "your" soldier!

[VandenbergNCO]

I am hearing a lot of bad things about GMH. They are getting ready to take over housing at Vandenberg. What caught my attention at the "town hall meeting" was the fact they are tearing down more houses than building. GMH's reply was "we will move you to another house of off base" Houses around Vandenberg start out a $350k! BAH isn't going to cover it. Even with very little in the way of bills. They also mentioned civilians would be allowed to live in housing. Is this happening else where? Leaving the town hall meeting I heard several officer's wives saying we better get a house before these enlisted people do and my kids better get to go to the elementry school on base. I know that is only one person but we should be thinking of our younger troops first. Also, none of us heard they were taking over 1 Nov, we would have to sign a lease agreement, and sign for the housing office to pass over our privacy act information.

The whole thing seems like a shady situation. I would love to hear any other problems with GMH. You can bet I will ask them about it at the next "town hall meeting"

Not that it won't do any good. They remind me of a used car salesman. Make it sound like a good deal when it's really a lemmon.

[Annoyed USMC Wife]

VandenbergNCO,

At Fort Belvoir they are opening up the base housing to retired military that are now civilians. In addition, they are offering $250 referral bonuses to anyone who can refer someone to live on base in our old housing. It seems like the bases (Fort Belvoir at least) is having a difficult time with people moving off base due to not getting a new house so they are trying everything possible to keep the BAH flowing in. I hope this helps!

[ceb]

$250 sounds like chump change to me, our housing company is offering $750. I question many, many aspects of this. On top of the fact that I would never refer anyone to live in our privatized housing, bonus or not, the housing is that bad and so is the company. Good idea in theory to privatize, but in reality it is a nightmare.

[Annoyed USMC Wife]

Hey Ceb,
I definitely agree that $250 is not very much money at all, especially considering that they get $1789/month from a Sgt for BAH. The $250 is only if someone lives in the old housing, not even one of the new houses. Regardless, I would never recommend anyone to live there. It was a nightmare.

When my husband and I had our final move-out inspection, we had our cars parked on the grass to load them up. The lady threatened us that we would have to pay "grass damage." Apparently she didn't see that all of our grass is brown anyways, whereas in the new neighborhoods they water the grass on a daily basis. I think they are so desperate for money that they are thinking up the dumbest reasons possible to take yours!

[Annoyed Army Wife]

This is our first time to live in privatized housing. We PCS'd here straight from government quarters and upon arrival we were told we had to pay a pro-rated upfront cost of $2200.00 while BAH from the last duty station was only $1087.00 and the new BAH rate has still not kicked in plus the last place still has the BAH because the army pays BAH in arrears. We spoke with JAG and it turns out BAH (rent) is not due until the end of month because this is how BAH is paid (arrears) - so do not let them bully you. So all in all we have not had a very good transition from government quarters into privatized housing. I have not found anyone to be pleasant or looking out for the soldier. It is all about the money.

[aandnwifey]

Used to be Navy..hubby was E5 had great housing in San Diego - took awhile to get in, but once we did, awesome. Hubby switched and became a warrant officer at Fort Rucker. Holy cow, old and dumpy. They (picerne) are building new homes...but we wont see them. And I agree rank should have priviledges..we were enlisted for ten years..I feel we went backwards for our quality of life. For the lady who said we whine...im curious what bases/posts you have lived on?? What do you do if there is nothing around like fort rucker, should military have to take a chance on buying a house knowing they have to sell shortly. Sometimes, I know I do, I want to live on post for many reasons. Housing should be a right damnit our wives/husbands defend our country, some give up their lives. Our kids who didnt choose to have their mommies/daddies go away for longer and longer deployments deserve clean adequate housing and that is a right and is stated, at least for the Navy I am sure, that we are entitled to a certain standard quality of life. I am working on the hubby to switch back Navy, LOL

[Salen Grossinger]

GMH treats their military tenants like animals. They spy on them and report back to the housing Nazi. Take my word for it. Better to NOT let the maintenance man into your quarters and just let them fix it all when you are ready to vacate. Other wise they will report on you. They drive around and spy on you too. When moving out they rip you off for even MORE money b/c they have local contractors that they are getting kickbacks from to "clean" a house that has already been cleaned and that they insist be cleaned by the tenant. Congress made a huge mistake by taking the housing away from the military but, now they are getting rich off the backs of the military as if they have enough money to pay all these kickbacks and charges. DO NOT MOVE INTO GOVERNMENT QUARTERS THAT GMH IS INVOLVED IN. BETTER OFF IN OFF POST HOUSING.

[momof3]

Wow! How great it is to find this site! I had no idea everyone else was having issues too! We live in LaMesa Village in Monterey. The new housing is beautiful, the old housing is crappy, and Clark Pinnacle has no understanding of military life! The reader who posted about housing is not a right, try living in Monterey where a 3 bedroon home is 1 million. Most people have no other option but to live on post. Clark Pinnacle changes the rules everyday. They could care less about the servicemember or their families. As long as they get your BAH, they don't care. The issues with Clark Pinnacle affect all ranks here in Monterey, enlisted and officers. No one is immune from their "no care" attitude. How shameful of a company to treat the military in such a disrespectful manner. I would like to see how one of them would feel in our situation or having to kiss their loved one goodbye as he/she leaves for Iraq or Afghanistan. Let Clark Pinnacle walk a day in our shoes!

[Mindy]

I live in the old housing in Lower Stillwell at The Parks in Monterey. It really is a small mold infested place, but it would be the same way if the military owned it still. I must say that Pinnacles does a great job with yard maintenance and most of my home maintenance issues have been taken care of the same day. I do however find it very frustrating that there is a double standard. Not only civilian versus military. Military pays $1444 a month while civilian and students who qualify for low income housing pay half that price. Also, we are a family of five. Because of dangerous past experiences, we cannot put our 3 and a half year old in the same room to sleep with our almost 2 yr old. Which means the 7 month old is in our room. This has greatly worn on our family. We pleaded with management to let us transfer to a 4 bedroom house if one was available. They said that the rules did not allow it, although the same week we recieved our house a single mom with one child got a four bedroom house to herself. Oh, and another thing, the air force screwed up and we didn't get paid BAH for three months, but still took rent out of our paycheck, leaving us with less than $300 every two weeks. Not to mention we didn't get paid till Dec 15th. We weren't sure if our children were even going to get any Christmas gifts this year and we had plans to visit family. There is no sense of community or security. So, when it comes right down to it, I just don't believe in privatizing military housing. There are just too many problems. Other than healthcare is there any benefits to being in the military anymore? In more ways than one i think our government is selling out their military citizens!

[Mindy]

Wow, ok that was my own personal rant that i probably should have kept to myself. However, i do think that there are many issues with privatization. The financial aspect is definitely not ideal for the traveling military family (paying rent out of your own pocket and then trying to get it back when they were overpaid out of your paycheck). The double standards i believe are discriminatory (DOD regulations for military but civilians do not have to abide). The fact that other than taking all of your housing allowance, these places charge outragous prices for anything ($800 to paint 2 already painted rooms and $35 for a nick in the wall). These places enforce military regs without the military empathy. Here-in lies why there isn't a since of community or security. If anyone can have what we have for a lesser price (not talking about just money), then maybe my husband should become that civilian contractor, with the same experience and expertise, sitting next to him at work who not only make 2-3 times more money than he does but also isn't in so much danger of being killed in action. I am grateful for all that the military has done for my family, but i just don't see the future getting any brighter. I would like to think that our government would take better care of those, and their families, who lay their life on the line for their country. I mean not only military, but public servicemen like police officers and firefighters as well.

[Annoyed USMC Wife]

I am so sorry to hear about your experiences with privatized housing. I completely understand where you are coming from in the fact that they cannot be flexible at all for housing accomodations due to the "rules." On Fort Belvoir, they are building all of these brand new houses but will not build any of them for families without children E1-E5. Finally, my husband and I got so sick of it, we just moved off base.

By moving off base, we live in a much nicer aparment with great amenities. We do pay out of pocket, approximately $200/month, but it is totally worth it. Now instead of having to pay to use the base swimming pool or only being allowed to use the gym at certain hours, we are in an apartment where we have access to all of it for free! I know that with a family it must be a lot harder...you would have to find a HUGE apartment!

Where exactly is Lower Stillwell at The Parks in Monterey? My husband may possibly be re-enlisting, per the ok with me, and I wanted to see if anyone has had any good/bad experiences with base housing at Camp Pendleton as well as around the San Diego area?

[Mindy]

It's in Monterey, CA. The bay area, which is a gorgeous place to be and lots of recreational activities. A great place for an active couple.

[LoveMyFormerMarine]

We currently live on Fort Eustis in Virginia and it is horrible. Repairs are NOT getting done, my ceiling has fallen in 3 times. We have black mold, the housing is tiny......if you put your couch across the room width wise it will go wall to wall. They sent a painter to do plumbing once and it turned out bad....my husband ended up fixing it himself. Our kitchen sink leaks bad, we have no water pressure......to the point where we cant even shower or bath some days. We were told by HUD and the health department that if this was civilian housing it would be condemed from the sewers backing up into the houses......yes that too has happened MANY, MANY times. Humans should not have to live like this......and especially the coutries Military. We do so much for EVERYONE why can we not get a decent house that is not a health risk. I will NEVER live in another GMH managed housing unit.........EVER.

[Mrs. Karma S.]

If you have lived at Ft. Rucker recently; you can agree with the following statement..."Picerne is here to make money...that's it..and they make a killing out here." You mainly have Warrant Officers out here and our BAH went up to a decent amount as of 08 but the housing we are stuck in would make the homeless find their cardboard boxes better living. MOst of the homes here were built in the 1940's (seriously) with the shortest ppl in history as residents..the showerheads can give you a nasty bump on the nogin if you just stand the wrong way inside the shower. The AC unit sounds like a turbine engine is going thru our living room. And my favorite feature of the house itself is the mismatched color bathrooms in the folling options: Pepto Pink, Baby bottom blue, or Exorcist Pea Soup green. It wouldn't be so bad but the walls are tiled just like the floors. So you had better find Martha Stewart to figure out the shower curtain scheme. We got a 4 bdr. and we have no kids...but believe it or not these are the worst ones to have but that's where the Officer's live so here we be...and for those wondering...our bathrooms are green and the other blue. As for the outside..well, the scenery is beautiful. The neighbor's are quite. You can basque in the glory of southern Alabama's wilderness all you want since you won't be bothered by pesky cell calls out here...your phone won't work. If you decide to wash the family car on this gorgeous day just remember to do so AFTER the convicted felons have mowed the dirt since that's what will be on your beloved car if you don't.

We ourselves had always had nice homes off post and this was our test run to live on post. I suppose it's a matter of perspective though, since if you are used to living in a large home built after the completion of the great wall of Chine; then moving into a small home built prior to aforementioned completion is a major adjustment some of us find hard if not impossible to make. I wouldn't be so hateful towards Picerne except that when we were making our choice to live on post we weren't given a choice of homes to live in. They said no one was. So we were stuck like Chuck if you will with this old house. Then I visited other post-housing and OMG did I want to deck the ppl who chose this house for us. The 3 bdr are nicer and more spacious in design, the enlisted housing (some not all) have ceiling fans and covered patios with said ceiling fans out there for them. To boot we watch the new homes being built, and well they too are gorgeous in comparison. Who gets these brand new homes? The ppl whose homes are scheduled for demolition...or so Picerne says.

So we decided..forget this mess we want out! Well in order to get out you have to give a 45 day notice signed by a LTCOL or above stating you are smart enough to pay your bills off post, you will also need to find a nice home that is willing to wait for your happy family for 45 days...(good luck on that one). The kicker to all this would be: that your rent supposedly is paid in the rears. Which means that after 45 days you then move into your new home but that month's BAH will go straight to Picerne...so in order to move you will need the equivalent of a hollywood film mogul to move off post. So for now...we are saving up to move off post. But for any of you that manage to not make the mistake some of us have by moving into subsidized BS...go to AHRN.COM first. That's the best place to get good info on rentals for military from military members. We found beautiful homes there...just can't afford to love them yet. If you guys have comments or questions...email me at DJBADKARMA@YAHOO.COM.

[Amy G]

We live on Camp Pendleton, CA and the PPV for our base is Lincoln Military Housing. This is the first time we've lived on one of the bases, we've been here 6 1/2 months and I've been ready to move out since day 5. Don't get me wrong, we are lucky and live in the nicest section on base (staff NCO housing) but it is still not what I'm used to. The water on this base is SO bad (private wells) that it constantly stinks and anything that is left damp- sinks, floors, windows, showers is covered slowly with black mold. You have to purchase water softner services which are NOT cheap. Also, they have these "scheduled" power outages so that they can get power up in the new housing sections that they have to keep building to replace the housing sections that are being shut down due to guess what? Yup- the water/mold problem. There's been 2 since I've been here and another one the day after tomorrow. they last from 2-8 hours. Always right after pay days too, so you lose some perishables each time without fail and if you didn't happen to hold onto your grocery receipt (as if you get more than 48 hour notice of the outages) then you cannot file a claim with the housing or the Gov to recover any $$ for your loss in food. So anyway, my husband is finally switching MOS's and we will be leaving here for civillian world. (he's going into recruiting)
Does anyone know how I go about getting the BAH money in enough time to put it as a deposit on a new house? Thank God it's tax season, so we will have some money to move... (gotta love those re-enlistment bonuses) I've heard that you can give notice, but the PPV will still get your BAH and then refund it at some later date. I want the BAH money during the move. Can anyone give me some info, plase?
Thanks!

[Leslie]

We've lived in private housing on Camp Pendleton and now Ft. Detrick. Overall there is no way we would trade it. In fact at ft. detrick my husband is in a small command and pretty much all of them are now moving on base. Sure we've all had issues with GMH but when you compare what you can get out in town to the home we have its pretty much a small tiny apartment or a good size new townhome with a garage and yard. At Pendleton it was the same. Here we broke our sink and not only did GMH fix it the next day, we didn't even have to pay for it. Every time we need them they are here in 24 hours. The maintance guys are great. The main housing office has some nasty ladies though. But after moving in we don't deal with them at all. Sometimes you get what you want. We did have to wait longer for a new home. We could have moved into one of the older homes sooner but then I'd have lots of complaints. They are nasty. The same was at pendleton. We get the choice to get on which ever waiting list. It was worth it to us to wait a little longer for nicer housing. My husband picked up rank and we've talked about moving off base and buying a home but once you add in utilities ect...its not worth it right now. As far as paying the utilities on base, they have started mock billing and we're always on the refund side. I was shocked but we're not good at concerving and I was worried it would end up costing us. I really think it all depends on the base and what type of housing is available. Also life styles.

[Lindsey]

Hey Leslie,
My husband and I actually moved off base due to living in the older housing. We really wanted a new house, but they were only available to E6 and above or below with dependents. Unfortunately, my husband didn't get an early promotion and kids are nowhere in our future.

But we did move off base and I thought we wasted energy like crazy while living on base. Now that we are paying utilities at our apartment, it is amazing how much we really don't use! $10 water bills, $30 electric bills...its not as bad as I thought it would be. I definitely agree that there are perks of living on base, and if we would have gotten a new house, I would have stayed and sucked up my terrible commute. But the old house + long commute = unhappy wife when I got home :)

[BraggBrat]

Anyone know how to get Picerne to fix any of the broken stuff? We have mold growing in our carpet (they told us it was new!), our shower fixtures are loose from the wall, the cabinets are old and rickety (they still have stickers on them marked 1973), and our gutters are cracked so they don't work right either. And putting in a work order doesn't fix the problem either. It just masks it! We live at Ft Polk, need I say more? There was practically no options for living offpost. How do we get things fixed? We too are peeved that the lower enlisted get the new housing and we SNCOs are stuck in these crapholes...

[Crystal]

Alright people,I need some insight.We're lived in Picerne Military Housing for 27 months.We've been in this house the whole time.We do have cats,two of which are great,well trained felines.Because we have animals they are making up pay for new padding throughout our whole house.Its ridiculous.Is there some law or some regulation that Picerne has to change out the carpets after a period of time anyways?Im just now three years in to this Military ordeal and Im still learning.Help,please!

[ArmyWifeNwB]

My husaband just got ordersd to fort gordon georgia. I am expecting in august, and have a two year old. Thye have a house set up for us on march 3rd. Is anyone from there, or have any info on the quality? Am I better off to get an apartment? Please email me asap with any helpful info

[Love My Tanker]

ArmyWifeNwB - I tried to email, but was unable to do so.

You can visit www.militaryonesource.com and http://www.militaryhomefront.dod.mil/portal/page/mhf/MHF/MHF_HOME_1?section_id=20.40.500.400.0.0.0.0.0

to see some housing information for your new location.

Best Wishes!

[Kasey]

We have been having a terrible time with Picerne here at Bragg. We are currently looking for a house off post because we are living in a 900 square foot dump with two children and have to walk over 150 to our vehicle from our house. And they recently started blocking us from driving up to our homes, so imagine walking with a two year old and a two month old and trying to carry groceries as well, because that is what they want us to do.

There is nice housing here at Bragg, but we won't see it for awhile as we are the very last of our village to be remodeled. The state of the older housing here is terrible and Picerne mistreats its residents in my opinion. We we complain about something, they tell us to deal with it, because they know if we move out, they can have someone back in our house within a month. I HATE it here and could go on and on about it all day long.

[LeonardWoodWife]

My goodness I feel for all of you! We PCS'd here Ft Leonard Wood from Ft Rucker almost a year ago. We were in housing there and then bought a place right before Picerne took over. Ours was the first house that they "updated" when we left. My girlfriend there is having a hard time getting a bigger house they live in a 3 bedroom and are expecting their 3rd child. Its funny how the 2 bedrooms are actually bigger than the 3's there. Our biggest problem there was spiders, they were horrible! But we PCS'd here to LW and got into new housing,this was our 3rd time to LW and have had old housing every other time, the new housing is very nice from the outside but has a lot of problems inside. I have had 2 dishwashers, 3 refridgerators, and on one day about 20 workmen here fixing things. From nails sticking out of the subfloor, to flooding sinks, to doorbells about to catch on fire, windows falling in etc. The problem here is they are trying to build them too fast and are foregoing quality. Which means in 10 years these houses will be on the ground. There have been alot of complaints here but they try to fix them ASAP but sometimes dont get them right until the 3,4,or 5th work order call. So honestly I cant complain at all, anything I gripe about now sounds petty compared to everyone elses. We are supposed to start paying utilties in April though. I dont agree with that much. But good luck to you all, I sure have ideas now where I will not live on post at!

[Lisa]

We live at an air force base in North Dakota. After being here one year, they opened up our kitchen ceiling to fix a leaking pipe, said that black stuff wasn't mold, closed it back up and a couple of months later all health symptoms started. My new baby had respiratory problems. I started losing hair. My 8 yr old daughter started losing hair. We got headaches, memory problems, sinus infections. Our duplex neighbor's baby had the same things. We finally got moved after their baby stopped breathing one night and after going to the congressman and both senators. We got moved to a "like" house 5 houses down and everything started again. I found the radon level was high and the houses hadn't been tested here since 1989. They installed a radon reduction system in our house which stopped the headaches and memory problems but left the extreme hair loss and baby's respiratory problems and runny noses in the house. Nobody will look at our pictures, videos, medical records to see this only happens in the house. I don't know if it's military chemicals or the old house, but it is the house. We're losing arm, leg, head hair. I've been made to feel like it's all in my mind but if anybody every looks at our pictures and videos, you will see how fast the baby clears up. Within an hour after leaving the house, his nose is dry and crusty. If we're gone overnight, it stays clean and clear until we get back and then it starts running again.

[AirborneWife]

Picerne at Ft Bragg is awful! I realize this may not be others experience, however, it is ours and many others on the base. The old housing very substandard to say the least. We (4 kids/2 adults)live in a 4bdrm of about 1400 sq ft with hardly no closets unless you count the ones in the bedrooms. My son (who is the only boy) has the smallest room which is 7'6 X 8 or something to that effect it is small box. The other rooms aren't that much bigger. Our ceiling has many cracks in it from the many water leaks we have had. This whole multiplex is nothing but a big mold/mildew infestation. And yes, we have the respiratory problems also. I have never had any sort of allergies until we moved into ft bragg's old housing. When I am away I am fine and so are the kids but once we come back to this sh*thole the problem starts all over again. I have had to fork over money for air purifiers (in every room), air filters (the ones they give out are the cheap dollar ones that don't work),and humidifiers (in every room). There is not sufficient space in the kitchen (cabinets, etc.) so as a result I had to keep all my dishes packed and just buy paper plates and an oversized bin to store our food etc... I could go on and on, believe me. I have spoken with the corporate manager at picerne who actually came out twice and agreed that this was "substandard" living, however her reply was simply "sorry, there isnt much we can do, they are old". My next step is the IG. This whole housing experience has caused uneccessary problems within my family. I realize some people think "well just move off post". Sometimes it is easier to stay on post when you don't wish to purchase a house then have to turn around and sell if you get orders, also paying rent for a 4bdrm home is many times more than paying for a mortgage. Oh yes, and before I forget, the contractors building these homes for Picerne buried some old house parts and other things underneath many of the new houses built,and quite frankly because of that those homes were no longer safe to live in, so Picerne has been in the process of moving those people out of those houses and moving them into other new houses. So as of now, if you live in old housing then you are stuck, no chance of getting on a new housing list until they all those other people moved. Truly sad...

[Tracey]

Not sure if any of you have seen this. Some disturbing information on this site. We live at Fort Knox, the housing here is just as lousy to me.
http://www.acq.osd.mil/housing/faqs.htm#48

[Tracey]

Not sure if any of you have seen this. Some disturbing information on this site. We live at Fort Knox, the housing here is just as lousy to me.
http://www.acq.osd.mil/housing/faqs.htm#48

[brooke]

we just moved to Ft Gordon, GA on Jan 7th,2008 so far no complaints

[ArmyStrong]

I wanted to go all the way back to the comments about no name and rank plates on military housing. The reason for this and Picerne will tell you it's for privacy but on the contrary it's to not let you know who is a DoD Civilian family. There are quite a few families living on Fort Meade that live in the new Neighborhoods when they shouldn't be. Everything revolves around money despite what anyone thinks. I have tackled the Privitization efforts on post and I finally won. I tell everyone don't give up keep pressing the Companies that are just here to make a quick buck and not give us what we are entitled to. Don't believe you don't have legal rights as well, yes you do! I want you to know that you need to call on JAG, IG, Congressmen and Senators as well as your Command. If your command is not trying to help you IG is definitely your first stop. No one is going to give you anything if you don't know you are suppose to have it in the first place. Knowledge is power, spouses it's not just the Servicemember's responsibility to fight every battle and read all regulations. My wife dug into regulations I didn't even think about. Ensure you stay on them until They Fold no you!

[tina]

My husband is currently in bootcamp,and I was planning on living on base.After reading through these blogs I am a little more than worried!That would be an understatement.I have three kids and never would of even thought that the housing would or could be that ran down.I was expecting average certainly not mold and taped windows.The recuiters sure do make it sound alot diffrent,I guess that goes for alot of things they say.I guess we'll make the best of it!

[Suzyie]

My questions are 1st off what size housing does a family of five get with 3 boys ages 5,4,3? Second what is housing on Fort Polk and Fort Campbell like? My husband is a SGT E-5 with prior service but I am new to this. Please help.

[PO'd male spouse]

First to that moron up there going by USMC wife. I'm retired and my wife is active duty. I gave my all to the corp and without a doubt you are the most ignorant person I've ever encountered. You are endemic of the problem with this new military and that includes my beloved corp.

While in the Corp and now with the AF you don't always have the option of purchasing a home and while BAH helps you can quickly spend more than you make and not recoup it when it is time to move on. Currently we are here in Ord and dealing with the idiots at Pinnacle who have absolutely no concern for the troops and only watch their bottom line. This is the norm for privatization.

Brooke is absolutely right about Picerne on Meade. When Picerne took over the commander there squashed several legitimate complaints including the photos and story that was in the baltimore paper about the corruption. What was really pathetic was the then commander being offered and accepting a position with them after he was passed over for 06.

Have no doubt that the few people who speak positively about privatization either don't know anything about it or are working for one of the companies.

Here at ord we dont even have a choice for internet provider because pinnacle has consistently blocked efforts from companies who would not kick back a profit percentage to them. Same with cable and phone providers.

[Laurie Solhjem]

We currently live on Ft. Meade where the housing is privatized with Picerne. We've been here 3 years. In the beginning we liked Picerne. They mow our grass, shovel the snow, answer maintenance calls in a reasonable time frame, but when we got here we were told they determine who goes into new homes based on rank and time on post and that we would have to wait about a year to get transitioned into new stuff. Well, that sounds fair. The only problem is that now 3 years have gone by and we still live in the same duplex. Which I don't hate, but now we are being kicked out because they are going to renovate it. Yesterday we recieved our relocation letter from Picerne stating the address of where we would be moved to. Um it's smaller than what we live in now. "Well it's 2 bed and 1 bath, which is what you are in now" they said, but the square footage is less and it's not a ranch style it's a very congested townhouse style. "We'll you are under an E-6 with no children, so this is what you qualify for" Ok I can accept that but why were we led to believe something different for 3 years? And it's not new it's renovated which Picerne considers to be the same thing. This is all occuring at the same time of my husbands promotion to E-5. He's BAH is going up, so now we get to pay more for something less?!
Picerne plays the military card and plays the civilian card at there own convenience. If they are civilian shouldn't they be charging what the house is worth (which isn't much in our case) instead of just taking all of your money? Not only this but they are not consistently distributing housing, We are the only "originals" left on our street, and I know of newcomers who went straight into new housing. Also, in all this I learned that Picerne employees are allowed to live on Post and they get the pickings of where they want to live. This enrages me the most. Now we are giving military benefits to civilians? I've realized after talking to a couple managers that our situation isn't going to change, they refuse to offer us anything better, so now we have under 2 months to find something off post. I don't anticipate our situation to change, but I do think some of these policies need to be changed. All of this happened the day before the 4th of July, the same day one of our cars wouldn't start, and in the same week as my miscarriage (when I didn't appreciate being reminded that we have no kids). Does this sound like "Family First"? I'm just grateful that my husband wasn't deployed. I feel so disappointed and so angry about the whole thing. If anyone knows who else I can call please let me know. Also, if you choose to live in privatized housing get every promise in writing. We were naive in believing what we were told. Did I mention that I hate Picerne. The End!

[Annoyed USMC Wife]

Hey Laurie,
I completely agree with you about housing. We used to live on Fort Belvoir, and they were building new houses everywhere. However, they wouldn't build any 2 bedroom new homes so only a couple with a dependent/child would get new homes. It doesn't seem very fair to me to "punish" someone who chooses not to have kids.

My husband and I moved off base about a year ago and we couldn't be happier. We pay slightly more than our BAH, but we live in a MUCH nicer place with more square footage. In the real world, the old saying goes "You get what you pay for." However, on base, that doesn't apply since you are paying so much money for a house that isn't nice at all! Good luck in your house hunting. I am sure you will find something.

[thompsoncassi]

OK, I stumbled on this site by accident and I am so happy that I did. I live on post(Fort Bennning GA.) It is the worst!! We pay almost 1200, and we get a mold infested , sinks wont turn on and if you get them on you can't get them off. We have had to buy air purifiers and I clean like crazy to keep the mold off the vents. I would love to move off post but we are only here 2 years and well the housing market is bad right now so, what if I am stuck pcsing and can't sell my house? We would rent off base but safe housing is at least 15 miles on way that would equal over 30 miles a day and at 4.00 a gallon and only one car no thank you. Either way I feel we as soliders have a right to above poverty housing . The projects have better houses than we do. It is annoying and really I thought Ft Riley was bad but I welcome that house back on post. I am truly disappointed with the way we are treated. I Thought I was the only one who felt this way. we have 15 years in and I have only been with my husband for 7 years of it but this is all new to me.

[Privatized housing wants above BAH amount]

Hi everyone!
Well I have a unique situation. We have been assigned to a remote location. The closest post is 71 miles away. We decided to do it because there is no housing in the dump area we are suppose to live in. Everyone in his unit already travel 40 minutes or more to work because how bad the area is. Well we think we can manage by living at the post. However, they will allow us in there but the company managing the housing wants us to pay above my husband's BAH because his BAH is lower than the one for people assigned to that post's area. So they want us to pay over $200.00 above BAH.
This is crazy. There are plenty of homes empty and would't it make sense we were allow to be in one and just be charged the BAH? If it was not privatized we would not have this situation.

[USCG Wife]

We are USCG living on Ft. Meade for almost three years now - privatized by Picerne. It has been nothing but problems in our cramped, dirty, outdated, falling apart "townhome". There is no stopping the disgusting amounts of dust... I own a dyson and I vacuum every other day, yet still my sinus' suffer! Our oven is outdated and broken (though Picerne 'fixed' it) we have NO drawers in the kitchen that is the size of my old bathroom. The paint on the walls apparently has LEAD in it (they told us at move-in) and advised us not to lick or eat paint chips... because I'm an animal? Our sink in the bathroom was falling off the wall so to 'fix' it they caulked the cracks. The toilet was not properly secured so the wall behind it is cracking. The carpet is disgusting and rips up everytime I vacuum near a wall. Our first winter here the sewer pipes burst in our front lawn spewing urine, feces, toilet paper and other lovely garbage all over (the stench was horrible). We complained for THREE WEEKS before something was done to fix it.

Oh and to the poster who had to pay out of pocket to move in and wasn't told about that tidbit beforehand - THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO US!

Picerne is a horrible company. We were told we would move shortly after getting our lovely rat hole and stil have not. When we complained they told us my husband had to go up in rank or we had to have a baby to get a nicer place. Well my husband went up in rank about 6 months later and they told us, "oh no, he has to go up in rank AGAIN." I am also due in 4 weeks with our first child and they told us unless it was twins, we're staying in this shit hole.

Meanwhile I know of single people getting newer houses? This makes absolutely no sense to me.

I hope my daughter doesn't have my allergies, it is going to be hell for her. My only solace is we will be moving in May and be back in Coast Guard housing - which has always been pleasant, kept tidy and updated!

PICERNE IS A HORRIBLE COMPANY! They are completely in it for the money and don't give a rats ass about the military families. The only reason we don't move off-post is because the surrounding area is horrible. We've already been robbed once (though houses on base are frequently robbed as well).

[Kicked out of base housing]

I live in privatized housing at Offutt AFB. The company is called Rising View. The director at rising view has decided that since my friend and I did chalk outlines of eachother on my friends side of the street that we no longer need to live in the community. She told us our chalk outlines (which is all they were) were offensive to her. She issued a no contact order against me and my friend so that we could not talk with eachother. She also issued us a non-renewal of our lease since we were on a month to month. Since they're a civilian company, the military is powerless to help us eventhough they are disgusted by what housing has done. I would also like to add that the director kicked us out while our husbands were deployed. There was no appeals process given to us. She found out my friend and I took this up the chain of command and that is when she kicked us to the curb. Might I also add that I am pregnant with our 3rd child and my friend has 3 young children as well. This company needs to be stopped. You don't treat people like that. The fact that the base has no say in what they can do is extremely disturbing. For someone like myself who has lived here for 7 years and never once had a writeup, I think this whole thing is pretty f@#$ed up. Ready for the kicker???? There was a higher ranking individual that lives across the street from my friend and he claimed that our chalk outlines were a hate crime against HIM (even though he was out of state) and the housing director left everything that happened to us at his discretion. Preferential treatment anyone???

[Kicked out of base housing]

I live in privatized housing at Offutt AFB. The company is called Rising View. The director at rising view has decided that since my friend and I did chalk outlines of eachother on my friends side of the street that we no longer need to live in the community. She told us our chalk outlines (which is all they were) were offensive to her. She issued a no contact order against me and my friend so that we could not talk with eachother. She also issued us a non-renewal of our lease since we were on a month to month. Since they're a civilian company, the military is powerless to help us eventhough they are disgusted by what housing has done. I would also like to add that the director kicked us out while our husbands were deployed. There was no appeals process given to us. She found out my friend and I took this up the chain of command and that is when she kicked us to the curb. Might I also add that I am pregnant with our 3rd child and my friend has 3 young children as well. This company needs to be stopped. You don't treat people like that. The fact that the base has no say in what they can do is extremely disturbing. For someone like myself who has lived here for 7 years and never once had a writeup, I think this whole thing is pretty f@#$ed up. Ready for the kicker???? There was a higher ranking individual that lives across the street from my friend and he claimed that our chalk outlines were a hate crime against HIM (even though he was out of state) and the housing director left everything that happened to us at his discretion. Preferential treatment anyone???

[Anonymous for my husband's career]

I am incredibly disappointed with privatized housing post wide. The Army is subsidizing enlisted housing with 0-3 and above BAH, while officers and their families simultaneously live in old, run down, Very poorly renovated housing. For example an 0-3 receives more BAH than an E-8, but are being placed in the same housing as E-1 to E-5 at many installations including Ft. Bragg and Ft. Carson. We have been stationed at Ft. Benning, Ft. Lewis, Ft. Knox, Ft. Bragg, and Ft. Carson. This seems to be the case at all of these locations. It is one of the major reasons for the mass exodus of captains from the Army.

[Ashlee Brown]

I was searching on the internet for stories on Military Housing and came across yours. While my story is quite different then your lst it is very interesting and would like to get it out to the public. My husband is in the Navy we have a 3 year old son and I'm expecting in December, and we had recently moved into Wadsworth Shores in Virginia Beach housing owned by Lincoln Military Housing. We moved in on September 24,2008 just two days later September 26, 2008. We had a fire in our kitchen it was caused by the gas stove. It was the first time the stove was turned on since we had lived there. We were not cooking anything that involved grease and the fire had started in the bottom section of the oven and spread up the back. Apparently whoever had cleaned or was "supposed to inspect"the townhome had not done their job and something flamable was left in the bottom drawer of the oven as the firemen had stated. Within about 7 min. our home was filled with smoke and one whole side of the kitchen was on fire. Obvioulsy as soon as there was a little sign of smoke we turned the oven off and I went next door and had the neighbors call 911 the neighbors also had come over becfore the fire was uncontrollable and saw the fire was in the bottom of the oven not inside where the actual food was.Along with this problem after the firemen had put out the fire they discovered there was a gas leak on the property which could ahve been very dangerous obviously so they shut off the gas outside at the main line. Lincoln Military Housing the night of the fire had led us to believe they were goin to take care of us and put us somewhere to stay. Well that was a lie. We waited to hear from them for 4 hours finally got ahold of someone and tehy said there is nothing they can do. Luckily my husbands friends were home and we stayed the weekend at there house. The next day I contacted the customer service women at the Office at Wadsworth Shores asking her what was gonna be done about this, she was very rude told me that they weren't going to he lp us and that the fire was my fault and hung up on me! The following Monday my husband met with the Property manager who was a little nicer but did not offer to move us to another unit. Simply said we will send a cleaning company over and also fix the kitchen and that we were goin to be responsible for all the damage. This woman obviously had no clue what she was talking about even the fire report does not state it is my fault. This was an negligent act on Lincoln Militarys part and put my family in danger. We had over $15,000 damage to our personal property and they still expected us to live there. Since September 24,2008 we had only spent a total of 11 nights in that home, we either were at friends or out of town at familys. We moved out on October 25,2008 and are fighting them because they want us to continue paying rent to them. The home is obvioulsy no in safe livable conditions if you were to visit the townhome you can still smell the smoke from the fire outside the front door, the air filter had been changed 4 times since the fire and is still black as can be. The "cleaning" company they hired were just everyday cleaning people not ones that specialized in cleaning after a fire. Now I am considering speaking with an attorney about possibly suing for negligence and moving us into an unsafe home there are peltny of problems with the apartments in Wadsworth shores our neighbors also had disovered they had a carbon monoxide leak from the top of there hot water heated rusted off and there are electrical and mold problems everywhere, they are simply moving people into unsafe homes.

[Disgusted]

We live on Scott Air Force Base in Illinois and have done so for almost three years. I am new to the military- "married in" three years ago next month. I cried the first time I came (my hubby picked the place out without me). The trim is fake wood. It's very "cheesy" compared to what I am used to. The people that lived next to us before (thank God they moved) had a car that didn't run in the driveway, kids' toys ALL OVER the front and back yards, and decorative toadstools in the front yard. It was horrendous. Then these people moved in and they didn't take care of their weeds, they always had crap sitting in the yard. It was really ugly. Even when I called housing about it, nothing was done. One neighbor down our street puts PLASTIC flowers in her flower bed each spring and leaves them for a year. No taste!! It's fine if you display a lack of taste in your own space, but why should everyone else be subjected to it? So tacky!!! It is really really windy here so there is always trash everywhere and people are too lazy to pick it up- even in their own yard! I agree with a post awhile back- do people not have any pride in where they live? Do they have to be spoonfed? Are they not adults?
The thing that really concerns me most living in this environment is the way these people treat their animals. Both people that lived behind us at different times have treated their dog horribly- leaving them outside all of the time. The people that used to live across the street left their gorgeous, sweet puupy out in the cold and snow. I called housing and security, they never did much. I finally called the real police and they told me I had to call the Illinois Department of Agriculture and then the dog was gone. I do not know what happened to the little thing. God bless it's soul. People get these wonderful sweet puppies and then lock them in the garage or leave them out all of the time or chain them to the fence or tree when they are IN AN ENCLOSED FENCE ALREADY. They very often are left outside without any food or water. Some develop worms or ear infections and they are left untreated. I cannot tell you how many loose dogs we have encountered here- one dog attacked one of my dogs while we were on a walk and nothing was done. I am too afraid to walk them in the residential area now. You can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she treats their animal and let me tell you, a lot of these people are uneducated, ignorant, trash who are going to hell. Dogs are not purses to be replaced or discarded. Cats are not meant to be left when they are inconvenient. These truly stupid people get puppies or whatever animal because they look cute and fun at the time of "purchase" and then when the hard work enters into the equation, they bail. It really breaks my heart.
Many of the parents around us are ignorant too- they do not want to know the truth about their children's behavior OR they reward them for fighting.
They closed down our Teen Center and moved those "kids" into the Youth Center- you can imagine the problems with that scenario. Also, a lot of the Youth Center workers socialize with the kids a little too closely, if you know what I mean. They don't listen to parents and then when what the parents pointed out comes to fruition, there is no accountability with the staff member(s). Twenty-two year staff members get pregnant, tell all of the "kids", and then "miscarry"- how cconvenient! My children do not need to know about all of that. Staff members' girlfriends and boyfriends come to visit and sometimes have public arguments. My kids don't need to see that, either. Needless to say, my kids do not go to the Youth Center anymore.
Pinnacle housing runs our privatized housing and I cannot compare because I am new to military life. I will say they are disorganized, rude, and unintelligent to say the least. They don't follow up on rules and regulations. They don't know the first thing about customer service. The story changes with different staff members. Our pools have been closed since November because they are "waiting on a stamp for the grate at the bottom of the pool". From my experience with them, they really don't care and it could have been taken care of long ago but they are SLOW! They do not want anyone to complain or expect better and if you do, God help you, you will be blackballed- I speak from experience. Is it too much to ask for some respect and dignity and aesthetic intention? Just because people are in the military doesn't mean they should check their brains at the door and housing shouldn't treat us as if we have!
God bless you all.

[TotallyAnnoyed]

My husband is stationed at Ft. Riley. If that isn't bad enough the houing here is rediculous. Colyer Manner here looks exactly like the projects in Nashville that we saw when we were stationed at Ft. Campbell. This is the only place I have ever seen in which E-4 - E-6 are lumped into the same housing. There isn't nearly enough housing here to begin with and now that we need a 4-bedroom instead of just 3 we have a 12 month wait. On average there are probably 5x as many e-4's running around than E6s. My husbands BAH is $350 more than an E4...so tell me how we must wait a year to get a different house while we currently live in a 3 bedroom that you can see daylight coming in around the edges of your doors, a sub-floor in my kitchen that is peeling up and back steps that are so rotted and splintered that I have to carry my children in and out the door because they are completely unsafe. I hate this policy here and would really like to know who wrote it, but Picerne doesn't want to tell me that information.

[Tiffany]

Hi im an army wife that currentylu moved from fort carson co. IF YOU ARE PCSING there DONT LIVE ON POST! balfour beaty just recently took over and they are even worse the GMH housing. ive been in cali for nearly a month now. an my housing is suppose to kick in and they are stealing it and i have no way to contact them because they dont answer phones call back and their voice mails are almost always full. anyways my husband was on a rush deployment so we didnt even have 30 days for me to put in a 30 notice. and they cant charge for the 30 days if thats the case but they did!!!! and they also charged me almost 700 bucks to sweep and poilish the inside of my house when i left. plus 200 to mow my lawn pick up the dog crap [FROM THE LAST TENANTS!!!!] and wash out my trash can. absolutley rediclous! the houses should seriously be condemned. my house previously on post has plants.. that right PLANTS growing out of the floor and vents. the ac didnt work [and we had a new born at the time]. my friends house has water leaking out of the walls. my stair IN MY HOUSE was broken real safe for having 2 kids running up and down them and thye refuse to fix it. the house was wired wrong and we were electricuted seriously more than a few dozen times. and they told me I HAVE TO PAY TO HAVE SOMEONE COME LOOK AT IT. dont ever live on post at fort carson. they are thieves the post is old and ghetto and the serive from housing is the worst by far.