Landlord Gouging Military Personnel (really taxpayers)

St. Petersburg Times ^ | 6/7/03 | PAUL DE LA GARZA, Times Staff Writer

[Timeout]

TAMPA - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Friday requested a congressional investigation into apartment rentals for military personnel at MacDill Air Force Base and other bases nationwide.

In a letter to the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, the Florida Democrat said the military "may be paying significantly more for apartments in the Tampa Bay area than the market value" to house personnel on temporary assignment at MacDill.

In a separate letter, Nelson has asked the Pentagon to examine the issue as well.

"Although individual service members are protected through government reimbursement," Nelson wrote, "housing contractors unfettered by adequate competition arguably can fleece the taxpayers."

In some cases, military personnel assigned to MacDill have paid as much as $3,600 a month for a furnished three-bedroom apartment...reported Friday. Hundreds of military personnel are paying rents far above market value for apartments and are reimbursed by the government.

[snip]

One-bedroom furnished units in some apartment complexes near MacDill, for example, can rent to the military for up to $2,883 a month...

The MacDill Inn on the base has about 300 rooms and is often full. The daily rate ranges from $12 to $26, or between $360 and $780 a month.

Full article

Friday's article breaking the story

[Timeout]

"housing contractors unfettered by adequate competition arguably can fleece the taxpayers."

Well, DUH!

[Timeout]

That title should have said "Landlords"

[demlosers]

Bump for later read.

[MarkT]

Can the lease, described as housing for temporary assignements, be broken at any time (e.g. re-assignment, death, etc.)? That is a major cause for higher rents - damage to apt and furnishings are another...the article posted so far leaves out many important details which materially affect occupancy costs. Sounds like it was written by a so-called reporter who has a job app in at the NY Times.

[Timeout]

The article did address the ability to cancel. Yes, temp housing is more expensive, but this smells to high heaven.

[Grut]

The military will generally side with local business rather than its own people because Congresscritters placate their businessmen but only give lip service to complaints from military members.

[gcruse]

Congresscritters placate their businessmen but
only give lip service to complaints from military members.

In this case, military members have no complaints.
The military is paying for their housing.  The Pentagon
should be complaining, but then the Pentagon is the
one who arranged for the leases to begin with.
Evidently not enough money has been allocated to
pay for military housing in the area.  In the long run,
this may be cheaper if the surge in demand is
a temporary thing.

[Maximum Leader]

I imagine this is for temporary duty assignments. The problem is that since the government is just reimbursing the landlords, the military personnel have no incentive to shop around or negotiate a better deal.

If Uncle Sam paid the servicemen a per diem (tied to that area's housing costs)and let the serviceman keep what he didn't spend, rents would go down and Uncle Sam would be out of pocket less than it is under the current systen.