Thousands of Sailors in six locations nation-wide will see a temporary hike in their Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) as part of a Department of Defense (DOD) initiative to help combat higher costs of living in the hardest hit areas around the country.
The increases were announced in NAVADMIN 221/22, Sept. 30.
The six Navy locations are part of 28 military housing areas identified by the DOD where the cost of rental housing has increased by an average of 20 percent recently, making it especially challenging for service members and their families in these Military Housing Areas (MHA) to find affordable housing near their duty stations.
Specifically for Sailors, housing areas seeing increases are San Diego, Calif., Miami and Ft, Lauderdale, Fla., Kings Bay and Brunswick, Ga. as well as Newport and Providence R.I. Sailors living on non-Navy bases around the country should check the complete list of to see if they are in line for an increase in their area.
The increased BAH rates take effect Oct 1. and will continue through Dec. 31.
Service members assigned to a duty station in one of the affected housing areas will receive the BAH increase automatically. No application is necessary nor is it necessary to certify they have incurred higher housing costs. These automatic increases are expected to raise the total calendar year 2022 BAH payouts to service members by an estimated $206 million by year’s end.
The 2023 BAH rates will replace these temporary rates on Jan 1. By law, normal BAH rate protection ― which protects members from decreases in housing market costs ― does not apply to these types of rate increases. However, DoD is making every effort to ensure rates remain as stable as possible and will not vary significantly from the new 2023 rates.
For a list of the increased rates in the 28 MHAs, visit https://www.travel.dod.mil/Portals/119/Documents/BAH/BAH_Rates_All_Locations_All_Pay_Grades/PDF-Excel/2022_Automatic_BAH_Rate_Increases.pdf. Alternately members can use the BAH calculator at https://www.travel.dod.mil/Allowances/Basic-Allowance-for-Housing/BAH-Rate-Lookup/.
For more information on the Basic Allowance for Housing, visit https://www.travel.dod.mil/Allowances/Basic-Allowance-for-Housing/.