Georgia lawmakers launch inquiry on wait times for military housing

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - WTOC is hearing from lawmakers for the first time as they say wait times for housing on Georgia’s military bases is putting the families of those that risk it all for our county in an “unacceptable” position.

Sen. Jon Ossoff and Representative Buddy Carter are launching an inquiry with the Department of Defense to get a better look at how long families are waiting for housing on military installations.

Caitlyn Rowe is a realtor with American Veteran Properties, a veteran-owned organization that helps military find housing. She’s also a military spouse herself.

She says many of her clients come to her after they’re unable to wait for housing through the Department of Defense.

“They’ve been telling our soldiers that the wait is technically six months all the way up to 18 months. They’re unable to give an exact date or time… just because we’re not sure when families are moving out, and when they can switch that over to the new families,” said Rowe.

Rowe says often times, the families she helps are in a pinch to find a new home.

“We had a family just last month that moved, they originally wanted to live on post, it was just more convenient for their family, their husband, things like that. They called me literally two weeks before they got here, and were like ‘hey, you know, housing is telling us that we’re not going to have a house available, can you find us a home?’ I’m like yes, 100%.”

This waitlist led Sen. Jon Ossoff and Rep. Buddy Carter, alongside Sen. Raphael Warnock and Rep. Sanford Bishop, Jr. to launch an inquiry with the Department of Defense as to what’s causing it. Sen. Ossoff says service are expected to use their basic allowance for housing to pay for any housing costs beyond 14 days.

“I’ve heard directly from service at Fort Stewart who have been made to wait for long periods of time at temporary housing or motels while the Department of Defense finds them appropriate military housing. In many cases, these are service with spouses and young children,” said Sen. Ossoff.

Representative Carter, sharing that sentiment – in a statement saying:

“There is no reason for service to pay out-of-pocket for delays at the Department of Defense. The federal government is committed to offering our world-class troops the world-class resources they deserve, and for a need as basic as housing, there should not be a months-long wait.”

For advocates like Rowe, she says… she hopes the inquiry will help things go smoother for military families as they move to new installations.

“I hope it becomes a little easier. As a military family, I can sympathize with them, just because we move our families, we move everything coming down here.”

Ossoff—hoping the inquiry paints a better picture of the extent of the issue.

“Step one is understanding what’s driving this problem, and the scope of the problem. I know for a fact that there are impacted families in Georgia, and that’s why we’ve launched this bipartisan inquiry.”

The inquiry also asks for a base-specific list of housing waitlists across all of the state’s military installations. Ossoff says they have not yet heard back from the Department of Defense regarding this inquiry.

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