Action line #80506 - Bedroom authorizations for housing

  • Published
  • By Anonymous
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  Complaint:

Upon my arrival here at Incirlik, I was told by the Housing Office that my family of four was only authorized a two bedroom house. I found this rather surprising due to the fact that my children are both opposite sexes. When I questioned this policy, I was told that once one child reaches age six, I would be authorized a third bedroom.

After speaking with fellow co-workers and the Housing Office again, I was informed that this rule only applies to members who are E-6 and bellow. Once a member puts on MSgt, they are automatically authorized a three bedroom house, regardless of a child's age, even if they are only a family of three or four.

Is there any way this policy can be reevaluated? I understand that rank has it's privileges, but this rule doesn't seem quite fair to many individuals on base. Due to this policy, many families have to sacrifice their needs and live in uncomfortable conditions to accommodate others who frankly don't need the extra space.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Response:

You pose a great question and raise a topic that is of interest to every family on Incirlik. The Housing Office is correct, according to AFI 32-6001, Family Housing Management, a MSgt is authorized a 3-bedroom house because of rank while families of four may only be authorized a 2-bedroom house if both children are under the age of 6. These housing guidelines apply across the Air Force. The good news for Incirlik is that we're close to improving the housing situation for many of our families.

Our goal is to achieve the DoD Initiative of "One bedroom per child". We are working towards this goal with the construction projects for Eagle, Phantom and Falcon housing areas. These projects will add 3- and 4-bedrooms houses to our inventory, enabling us to better support Incirlik families. As new/renovated houses become available we will be able to assign families in situations like yours to 3-bedroom houses.

It may interest you to know that since we are currently limited on available 3- and 4- bedroom houses, we implemented a policy to assign Field Grade Officers and Senior Noncommissioned Officers without dependent children to a 2-bedroom house versus the 3-bedroom house they would ordinarily be entitled to.