Studlands and Soham town hall meeting

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ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  The following are questions and answers from a town hall meeting addressing concerns of Studlands and Soham base housing residents March 26. Questions were answered by Col. John Clarke, 48th Mission Support Group commander.


Q1. When will the housing office authorize people to move into economy housing?

A1. Colonel Clarke - As soon as we complete the assessment of surveys and the Housing Office contacts you, you may begin looking in the community for off-base housing.

Q2. What effect will this move have on TMO ?

A2. Mr. McMickell - We'll work everyone's situation the best we can. We can't guarantee that we'll move you on a specific date, but if you give us a time frame, we'll work that to the best of our ability.

Q3. How soon will we be notified that a house is available?

A3. Colonel Clarke - As soon as we complete the assessment of the surveys, the Housing Office will contact you and offer you base housing if there is a base house available within your grade and selection.

Q4. I have a large family; I don't want to receive a house that doesn't fit my needs. What special considerations can be taken?

A4. Colonel Clarke - Get in touch with the housing office. We'll work with you on that. Please ensure that you annotate that you have a large family on the form as a special consideration.

Q5. Do I have to move if I'm PCSing?

A5. Colonel Clarke - If you are PCSing prior to Oct 2008 you may stay in your house, if the date is after Oct 2008 you will be required to move.

Q6. If you are moving downtown into economy housing, the $400 won't cover it, how are we supposed to make up the $5,000 or $6,000 that it's going to cost us? Do we have to use our own money?

A6. Colonel Clarke - Commanders can authorize advance Overseas Housing Allowance (OHA) to pay for security deposits, also first and last months' rent. Unfortunately, I don't have a pot of money that I'm authorized to use for that; those are financial rules. You will receive PDLA and move-in housing allowance to cover reconnection fees for telephone and cable TV. We'll do our best to get you into government housing if that is your desire.

Q7. Are we going to be responsible for damages or other things to both houses that I move out of plus the house I move into?

A7. Colonel Clarke - You will be responsible for anything that's considered negligent out of this move.
Mr. Bloemhard - When you move into a house, we take an inventory of property. We take into account the condition and we are going to take in factors like how old the carpet is. At the time of your out inspection, we'll look at the condition of the carpet. We are going to obviously consider fair wear and tear. So, anything that is above and beyond fair wear and tear will be worked out with the inspector. I think we are going to be pretty fair on how we assess this and if the carpet is a certain age we are going to take that into consideration when you move out.
Colonel. Clarke - We do what is called a report of survey whenever we have any damage that comes into consideration. If it's considered excessive, someone looks at it and says you know, those big holes in the carpet weren't there when you moved in, that's not fair wear and tear. All of those come across my desk; we've just implemented a new process to make that faster. Sometimes we spend more money trying to recover money than we get back. We are trying our best not to impact you the military member or your family.

Q8. For people who are deploying, will we move before we deploy or after we deploy?

A8. Colonel Clarke - We will work whatever we can with you. If we have a house that we can put you in before you deploy and TMO can make it happen, we will move you before you deploy.

Q9. Is there a possible way of seeing the floor plan layouts of the houses before I make a choice of housing areas we want to live in?

A9. Colonel Clarke - Take a stop at the housing office and they will have floor plans available.

Q10. If my DEROS is in October, should I turn my sheet in?

A10. Colonel Clarke - Everyone should turn their sheet in so Housing can ensure that all members' information is current.

Q11. What happens to people who don't have kids, do we lose priority over those who have children?

A11. Colonel. Clarke - If you want to move into Lords Walk housing, two bedrooms, which is a British style house so very small, we can work that with you. I will warn you, right now Lords Walk housing is now on base but as of May 31, 2008, that housing area will be off-base once the gate is moved. That could be an issue to you if you choose that housing area. It will remain leased housing off-base.

Q12. I'm PCSing in spring 2009; would it be possible for TMO to store a chunk of my stuff so that we don't have to pack it up later?

A12. Colonel Clarke - No, what we will try and do, because we have to move you, is try to curtail your DEROS. I can't promise that because that's something that has to be negotiated at a lot of different levels that I have no control over. Those are the kinds of things we need to know.

Q13. Are we going to prioritize folks that are trying to move in the next month?

A13. Colonel Clarke - We are going to do the best we can.
TMO - Everyone has to understand that we have limited pack/shipments per day; we will try to schedule your TMO shipment ASAP if you give us a time frame to work with.

Q14. If a member were to decide to move themselves, how does that work?

A14. Mr. McMickell - There is a program for moving yourself once you receive housing orders. There is a briefing that will explain everything from truck rental to weight tickets.

Q15. How much will you pay if I move it myself?

A15. Mr. McMickell - Fifteen British pounds for every 100 pounds. You can do that and get reimbursed. If you move from government directed housing to government directed housing, you have to be careful about not occupying two government houses, so you can't take a month and a half to move. It has to be quick.

Q16. If we apply for an in-place consecutive overseas tour and we haven't gotten an answer yet and our DEROS is 2009, how does that affect our move?

A16. Colonel Clarke - We'll have to look at that carefully. We'll do what we can to make it work. Let us know on your form if you have a special case like that.

Q17. Can we apply for advance OHA?

A17. Mr. Bloemhard - If you move onto the economy, you can get advance OHA for security deposits and rent with the approval of your squadron commander.

Q18. If we are moving to a house that doesn't fit all the stuff that we could fit in our current house, will we be able to ship for storage as we did when we first got here?

A18. Mr. McMickell - This is in conjunction with the base housing office, if you move from government housing to government housing and your new house doesn't accommodate your furniture, housing will authorize additional storage and TMO will ship that for you. Once we ship it, it's staying in storage until you leave the installation.

Q19. What is considered early "09" for curtailing DEROS?

A19. Colonel Clarke - That is one that we are still trying to figure out. The deal is that we have to be careful with moving a lot of people. I was approached by one person who was set up to move in January. It doesn't make a lot of sense to move that person in October, so we are going to negotiate to get them out of here at a reasonable time. For those that have a short period of time, less than 60 days, we may be able to get you into TLF because that's a low number of folks. So that might be an option.

Q20. If we've already agreed with an off base agency to move off base, will we be moved by the government?

A20. Colonel Clarke - Yes, this is a directed move.

Q21. How will rank and/or number of children affect your position on the waiting list?

A21. Colonel Clarke - We are going to follow the housing rules. We are going to do it just like we did before. If there's a special case, we will try to accommodate. If there's anything coming down that you are anticipating and you think it's going to change your authorization for square footage or bedrooms, contact housing and let them know. If you know now, write it on your form.

Q22. How are we going to prioritize the list?

A22. Colonel Clarke - Things like deployments, and DEROS we may have to work around, anything else that has a special circumstance we are going to have to work really carefully. I suspect we are going to have a little bit of a clumping of certain areas where people want to go, but I'm not sure I can make all that work out perfectly. We are going to do our best to make that happen, but unfortunately the list is going to have to be prioritized and it's going to take a lot of hard work by the Housing Office to sit down and look at all the special circumstances and what we've got. It's not definitive, that's the problem because there are so many variables in this equation.

Q23. How much advance notice will I get before being told I have to move?

A23. Colonel Clarke - I will give you as much as I possibly can. I can't define that. In general, we are going to give you as much advance notice, because we know you have to schedule with TMO. You aren't going to get an e-mail one night saying we are going to come at 8 a.m. to pack your things up, we are going to work this so that you know well ahead of time. It could be months, but it all depends on what available housing there is and what you ask for.

Q24. Are there a certain number of months you have to live in a house? 

A24. Colonel Clarke - If you elect to move into a government house, you have to live in that house for at least six months prior to your PCS date. You have to commit to six months. Whatever we can, we will do, but we won't let everyone move every six months.

Q25. How will animals affect the move?

A25. Mr. Bloemhard - If you are moving from government housing to government housing, we authorize animals. If you are moving off base, you need to select a house where a landlord allows an animal. Sometimes that can be negotiated in terms of a security deposit. But work with the housing referral folks if you want to live on the economy with a pet.

Q26. Should we contact housing now?

A26. Colonel Clarke - Unless you have a pressing need, such as a deployment or anything else that's forcing us to make you move sooner, I would hope you would hold your questions to the housing office. I want to make sure we give them the opportunity to work the real hard issues up front and the short notice folks that are deploying. If you don't hear anything in a month, by all means, contact them.

Q27. How long is it going to take to move?

A27. Mr. McMickell - It's based on how much weight you've got to move. Most moves will be accomplished within the same day. If you have 10 or 12,000 pounds worth of furniture, it may take a day longer. It's based on the weight you've got and the distance you have to move it from.

Q28. Will you be held to your weight limit between houses here?

A28. Mr. McMickell - On a local move, there is no weight limit. Anything you've got can get moved.

Q29. Who's going to take care of special needs, ERD, childcare, etc?

A29. Colonel Clarke - We are going to have to negotiate all that stuff out to work the best we can. Our CDCs are full; we don't have enough room for all of the people on the wait list right now. That's going to be a tough one, but we'll do the best we can to help you out. Please let us know if you have concerns like that.

Q30. Is the housing office working with local realtors?

A30. Mr. Bloemhard - Yes, we have been working with realtors all along, right now there are more than 500 rental listings in our housing office to view/rent.