The average increase across the 32 bases will be slightly more than two per cent. Some will pay more, some less.
But that’s only the tip of the military housing iceberg.
What irks many residents is the well-documented dilapidated state of the aging houses and the federal government’s freezing of a “post living differential allowance” at 2009 levels that former chief of defence staff Walter Natynczyk complained had created a “haves and have-nots” situation for forces members renting military housing.
The cost-of-living allowance, introduced in 2000 to compensate those posted to high-rent areas of the country, was frozen five years ago with the promise that it would be replaced by another compensation system. That has yet to happen.
Natynczyk ordered the “unfairness” to be addressed in 2011 and told the ombudsman last February that “while the matter remains a high priority for the Department, the program is still under review at the TBS” (Treasury Board Secretariat).
A Treasury Board spokesman said Friday that questions about the post living differential allowance should be asked of a DND spokesperson who had not responded in time for publication.
About 15 per cent of Canada’s military live in DND housing and pay monthly rents for family-size homes that range from highs of $1,695 in Vancouver and $1,670 in Ottawa to $795 in Bagotville, Que.
Department of National Defence ombudsman Pierre Daigle, who has been getting complaints about the rent structure, says the static 2009 rate no longer reflects market reality in many parts of the country and points to the elite air force base at Cold Lake, Alta., as a prime example of the impact that housing costs are having on the military and Canadian taxpayers.
The booming Alberta oilpatch has sent house prices skyrocketing in the Cold Lake area since the supplement was frozen and military rental prices have risen in proportion. (Military rents are based on local market values).
“Military families should have the expectation of a similar cost of living when they’re posted from base to base,” said ombudsman spokesman Jamie Robertson. “That was the whole purpose of the differential allowance. Now it’s frozen and outdated and has created a huge area of unfairness. Rental rates at Cold Lake are twice that of air force bases at Bagotville and Greenwood. N.S. It’s a significant difference.”
According to the ombudsman, the high cost of housing is having a damaging effect.
The Cold Lake release rate — members leaving the forces — is about 13 per cent, or twice the national average, and many are having to work two jobs to make ends meet.
Some at the Cold Lake and Wainwright bases are leaving the military, attracted by high wages in the oil industry.
The departures represent massive investments and skills “walking out the door,” said Robertson.
”When you look at the amount of money that goes into these folks, it isn’t easily replaceable,” he said. “Those two bases stand out in particular but it doesn’t mean that others aren’t in a challenged environment. Families are in very difficult financial positions and it goes beyond rent to other things such as the ability to put kids into hockey.”
A report into Cold Lake by the ombudsman last summer also noted that personnel at other bases were leaving the service to avoid being posted there.
In a letter to Cold Lake base residents last month, the local DND housing manager said the actual rent increase should be 16 per cent but a 10 per cent reduction approved last year by then-defence minister Peter MacKay would be extended, meaning the increase this year will be six per cent.
The military ties its rents to local market rates in an effort to be fair to serving members who choose to buy homes or rent off base. Many who own homes complain they often lose money on buying and selling when they are re-posted to another region, whereas those in base housing can effectively pack up their belongings and move without the worries that go with home ownership.
On the other hand, ombudsman Daigle was withering in his criticism of DND’s housing in his report on military families released in November.
The bulk of the housing stock was built between 1948 and 1960 and desperately in need of upgrades, he said.
“In some places it would probably be cheaper to destroy everything,” he added. ”This whole issue of housing needs to be addressed. Something has to be done.”
At one base he said he met a military wife with six children living in a mould-infested house.
“Every week she was brushing with a toothbrush the mould off the window so it doesn’t affect the health of her kids,” he said.
The military says it does basic upgrading at no cost to the renter but larger renovations to kitchens, etc., are typically charged back in the form of increased rent.
Original Article
Source: canada.com/
Author: CHRIS COBB
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