Live from AUSA: At the IMCOM Booth

Delivering the Promises of the Army Family Covenant: Soldier and Family Housing

Army Housing follows the philosophy of improving Soldier and Family quality of life by building, maintaining, operating and/or privatizing an inventory of quality housing for it’s Soldiers and Families at various installations around the world where there is not ample, available housing on the local economy. Army Housing plans, programs and obtains funding for the acquisition of Single Soldier and Family Housing requirements, globally. The Army Family and Unaccompanied Personnel Housing programs are supported by the Army’s vision and mission in the Army Campaign Plan.

“The business of Army housing is people,” said Sandy Randolph of the Office of the Chief of Staff for Installation Management. “We ensure that all Soldiers and the Families live in safe, quality homes, either on post or in the community.”

Unaccompanied Personnel Housing (UPH) is a readiness issue. Providing a high quality, safe, and healthy residence is a crucial commitment the Army has made to single Soldiers. Quality UPH is a key component in efforts to ensure increased retention and higher morale of the single Soldier. When Soldiers are confident that their housing needs have been met, they can then focus on the mission. If these needs are not fulfilled, morale is lessoned. It is essential that the Army provide high quality barracks accommodations. To ensure that these high standards are met programs such as the centralized barracks management program called the First Sergeant’s Barracks Initiative (FSBI), the Permanent Party Barracks Modernization Program, UPH Privatization, and the Army’s Housing Operations Management System 4 (HOMES4) residential management system have been implemented to achieve and sustain that high quality of life that is essential to single Soldier housing.

Army Family Housing (AFH) provides for new and replacement construction of homes as well as the revitalization of existing facilities. The Residential Communities Initiative (RCI) uses appropriated funds that have been obligated by AFH to privatize the on-post housing inventory. The Housing Services Office (HSO) is the point of entry on the Garrison for community and privatized housing. The HSO enhanced referral services uses the Department of Defense web-based multiple housing listing service referred to as the Automatic Housing Referral Network (https://www.ahrn.com), and Army Housing OneStop ( https://onestop.army.mil), which hosts 29 installation welcome videos. These videos can also be viewed on Army.mil, Vimeo and YouTube to provide a direct line of communication to Soldiers and Families.

“We care about Soldiers and the Families and the sacrifices they make,” said Mary-Jeanne Marken of OACSIM. “That’s why we work to assure the the highest level of professionalism in the housing services we provide.”