Commitment to improve military family housing as strong as ever

  • Published
  • By Jerron Barnett
  • Eglin Environmental Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Rest assured Eglin and Hurlburt Field military families, the leadership of each of these installations are completely committed and focused on improving the quality of the homes you live in.

Eglin family housing officials are well aware of the inadequate housing that more than 1,700 military families live in on Eglin. As the Air Force's standard for housing has increased, Eglin's housing has struggled to keep pace, as a result of maintenance funding cuts and the old age of the majority of the 2,300-plus homes here. Most of Eglin's military family homes were built in the 1940s and 50s.

What's the remedy? In 1996, the Department of Defense decided housing privatization was the cure.

This effort to attract the right developer to suit the Air Force's needs for housing for Eglin and Hurlburt Field has picked up steam last several months, as housing officials continue to revise the Request for Proposal. It is slated for release in September.

Kathy Lawhon, Eglin's family housing division chief, and Richard Chin, Eglin's housing privatization project manager, said there's a lot of work to be done before new houses start to sprout up on Eglin, but leadership support for this effort and Eglin's current housing hasn't swayed. In fact, it's grows stronger every day.

"We are committed to doing the best we can for our customers," Ms. Lawhon said. "We will try to make whatever repairs we can or obtain the contract dollars to have them fixed."
Ms. Lawhon added that the recent demolition of surplus housing on Eglin, some 300-plus units when the dust finally settles, will also help free up some funding for maintenance on existing houses. This effort doesn't coincide with the privatization effort per say, but has merely occurred during the same time frame.

"The housing demolition should be regarded as normal business that would have happened regardless," Mr. Chin said.

Speaking in terms of the level of senior leadership support for the privatization effort, Ms. Lawhon said it's been consistently strong since she started on the project four years ago. As proposals come in after the release of the RFP in September, Eglin's leadership and the family housing division will ensure the housing needs are met.

"Providing quality housing for military families is of utmost importance (to Eglin's leadership)," Ms. Lawhon said. "I've been told from day one, it's the number one priority for the base."

Mr. Chin and Ms. Lawhon agreed that in the end, military families will enjoy the high quality housing they deserve.

"We've talked to some families from Robins and Lackland Air Force Bases where housing privatization construction has occurred, and they were absolutely thrilled," Ms. Lawhon said. "We consider Eglin to be a premier installation, so our military members who help make it so deserve the best family housing we can provide them."