Army takes steps to ease Schofield housing crunch
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Soldiers returning from war, new soldiers coming to Hawai'i and large-scale family housing and barracks renovation projects have created a housing crunch at Schofield Barracks.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Some 880 people are on the waiting list for family housing, and the situation is expected to peak in the summer with the soldier overlap and arrival of 800 more personnel plus their families for a new Stryker brigade.
Arturo Manalo frames a base for cabinets being installed at Schofield Barracks in one of several Army housing renovation projects.
"Field grade officers (major, lieutenant colonel, colonel) who are not key and essential will have to look off post," Janine Lind, Army Hawai'i Family Housing property manager, said in a post publication.
With so many moving pieces, the Army is preparing for a worst-case housing scenario this summer. In addition to the family housing effort, the base also is in the midst of a more than $802 million barracks renovation that started in fiscal 1995 and is expected to run through fiscal 2008.
Three of the base's historic "quads" are being worked on now and are closed, said Dino Buchanan, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Honolulu Engineer District.
Soldiers said that in some cases, newer barracks with two-bedroom suites designed for two soldiers have seen the temporary addition of a third soldier.
Pfc. Michael Hegstrom, 20, who just returned from Iraq, said, "it's not unbearable."
"In Iraq, there's 10 guys to a room," added Spc. Aaron Blenden, 27. "I'm not worried about (a temporary space crunch)."
"As of now, we're fairly good with barracks, but with the new Stryker brigade coming, we'll be moving, and I don't know what the living arrangements will be," said 1st Lt. Jason Felix, 29, who's with the 65th Engineer Battalion.
To help ease the overall crunch, the Army has approached Ford Island Properties, which leases out former military-only housing at Iroquois Point and Kalaeloa, about housing for 800 single soldiers and several hundred families, said Steve Colon, senior vice president at Hunt Building Co., one of the developers involved with Ford Island Properties.
"I don't think they (the Army) have a whole lot of choices," Colon said. "I can't imagine anyone else on the island with as many homes as we have that could accommodate the Army."
The Army now is trying to get its arms around what their shortfall will be, Colon said.
"At this point, we want to work with the Army, and as they have their need identified, we just want to be ready to respond," Colon said.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Army and its housing landlord, Army Hawai'i Family Housing, call the shortage a temporary bubble. The cause, they say, is that 5,200 soldiers returning from Iraq this month and 5,800 returning in the next couple of months from Afghanistan are being kept longer than usual in Hawai'i before some transfer to another duty station.
These Schofield townhomes are under renovation as part of the Army's efforts to upgrade military housing. Army officials say the housing shortage created by the renovations and other factors is a temporary bubble.
"There's always been a waiting list for certain pay grades and ranks, and that will continue," said Ryan Mielke, a spokesman for Actus Lend Lease and the Army housing program. "But as far as a robust, overall housing shortage, that is not the case."
For junior non-commissioned officers, the wait for a two-bedroom unit is 15 days.
"Not a long wait," Mielke said. "For sergeant major, we don't have any of those (units) available at this particular time, and the wait we're looking at is about six months."
Frank Knapp, a sergeant major with the 115th Military Intelligence Group who has about 600 soldiers in his unit, said "things are looking pretty good. I realize most military bases have the same problems with housing shortages — especially for a lot of the lower enlisted folks."
Army Hawai'i Family Housing has been responsive to needs, quickly fixing housing problems, Knapp said.
With Hawai'i's higher cost of living, finding off-base housing can be difficult, and Knapp said a number of NCOs would be more than happy to live on post.
"For a person who doesn't earn a whole heck of a lot of money — for a very junior NCO or junior officer — it can be a pretty good challenge to find a decent place to live that's relatively close to work," he said.
In the meantime, replacement soldiers will be coming into the state. The 25th Infantry Division (Light) expects up to a 70 percent turnover this summer, but incentives are being offered for soldiers to re-enlist and remain in Hawai'i.
Of the 8,000 homes managed by Army Hawai'i Family Housing, more than 2,000 are vacant, Schofield Barracks' post newspaper reported.
About 900 homes soon will be demolished, 791 will be renovated, and 800 homes will get quicker "vacant quarters maintenance" through the military housing privatization project, Lind said.
The 10-year project will include the construction of more than 4,050 homes, renovation of more than 3,400 residences and repairs to 386 historic homes.
Capt. Kathy Turner, a Schofield spokeswoman, said a "transient" barracks has been made available for some single soldiers to live in temporarily.
"This is an unusual situation," Turner said of the housing issues, "but we're in unusual times."
"The best thing that we can do is ... come up with solutions to try to solve the problem and take care of families and soldiers the best we can," she said.
"Stop-loss" and "stop-move" provisions intended to keep a stable force in time of war are in effect for 90 days after soldiers return home, meaning they are kept longer in Hawai'i than usual before transferring somewhere else, Turner said.
Staff writer Mike Gordon contributed to this report. Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
