Military retirees, families maintain service bond through AFCEC housing program

  • Published
  • By Breanne Smith
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --  It was nearly 60 years since Therese Sisson had lived on a military installation when she moved into her current home on Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, four years ago.
"I have a lot of newly married young people living around me," Sisson said. "I'm the old lady on the street."

Sisson, an 86-year-old, twice-widowed former military spouse, lives by herself in her three-bedroom, two-story home on the base.

"I feel like this is the best place for me, it all comes down to the security and the convenience," Sisson said. "If you need anything, they take care of it."

Though her first husband was a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, it's through her second spouse Donald, a retired Navy commander, that Sisson's an eligible tenant for the base's privatized housing units owned and operated by Hunt Companies.

"Opening base housing up to other eligible tenants when active duty occupancy levels drop is really an ideal solution," said Robert Moriarty, Director of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center's Installations Directorate. "It allows project owners to recoup the rent they need to continue maintaining the housing development, and it allows the Air Force an opportunity to take care of our veterans and military families even after they've separated."

When military housing privatization initiatives first went into effect, Moriarty said private sector lenders recognized the loan repayment risk if the Air Force couldn't guarantee steady occupancy rates. In response, the Air Force agreed to expand the pool of eligible tenants using a tiered, time-based priority list that triggers when occupancy rates drop below 95 percent.

For Sisson, living on base allows her to be a part of a life she thought she'd left years before.

"I enjoy seeing the young people. I have become a military wife even though I wasn't married while (Donald) was in the service," she said. "I'm so proud of what our men and women are doing."

In a neighboring community just a few miles away, retired Chief Master Sgt. John Nederhoed enjoys his recently retired status in the same Hunt Companies home he moved into with his family while on active duty.

"We wanted to stay because of my daughter's senior year," Nederhoed explained. "I didn't want my retirement to create a situation where we're uprooting her right before graduation."

After talking with Hunt management, Nederhoed and his family extended their lease beyond his retirement, allowing his daughter to graduate high school and Nederhoed to concentrate on his transition and post-retirement plans.

As the former superintendent for the Air Force Technical Applications Center, Nederhoed's position, as well as his tenant status, allowed him to see firsthand the improved efficiencies generated by privatization.

"Number one is maintenance," Nederhoed said. "It's no longer tied to the fiscal year. If an air conditioner broke in July (before privatization) and then the budget didn't pass, too bad."

With privatization, Nederhoed said it's evident military family always comes first.

Further up the coast near the nation's capital, nearly 17,000 personnel sustain an array of support operations at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.

Despite the large workforce, not all personnel on JBA qualify as target tenants, said Lt. Col. Rockie Wilson, 11th Civil Engineer Squadron commander.

"We have a large number of Air National Guard, reservists, civilian personnel and then retirees -- they're not active duty, but they're still very viable tenants."

For JBA, housing occupancy currently sits at about 87 percent -- eight percent below the occupancy rate at which the housing provider may begin allowing other eligible tenants on base and 11 percent below the Air Force-wide target occupancy rate.

"It's something we're actively trying to improve," Wilson said. "If we improve our occupancy rates by just one percent, that's $430,000 more in annual revenue that's generated for the development."

From lawn care and snow removal, to refuse disposal and community amenities, Wilson said whether it's rent paid from an Airman's basic housing allowance or from the pocket book of a reservist or retiree, it all goes back into the development.

"There's really great benefit to having our civil servants, National Guard and retirees living on base," Moriarty said. "It significantly improves the quality of life for our military members and their families -- both past and present -- and as valued members of our base housing community, we're able to continue to honor their service."