Brenden Taylor and his family have relocated multiple times in his 11 years as a Marine. However, it became nearly impossible to locate a reasonably priced place to rent with his military housing allowance when they moved from Okinawa, Japan, to Camp Pendleton in Southern California in 2022. After a 45-minute journey from the base, they finally located something they could afford in Murietta.
Many households are struggling with rising rents. According to study from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the median rent in the United States rose by 25% between 2021 and 2023 after accounting for inflation. According to the report, renters’ median family incomes increased by just 5% over that time.
Families of active-duty military personnel, who get a Defense Department stipend to offset the costs of owning or renting privately managed housing, are particularly affected by rising costs. According to a recent poll by Blue Star Families, a nonprofit organization started in 2009 by military spouses, the allowances are still insufficient for the majority of active-duty families, despite the department’s recent increases.
Just four years ago, 42% of active-duty families who responded to the study said the stipend met their monthly housing costs; last year, only 26% said it did. According to the group, 70% of active-duty military personnel and their families reside off-base.
15 Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee, led by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego, are worried about the price increases and want the Defense Department to look into the reasons behind them.
In a letter The lawmakers urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday to investigate whether increased expenses for families of service members are due to what they claim is profiteering by landlords who use the rent-pricing system provided by RealPage Inc., a software company for property management backed by private equity. Eight state attorneys general and federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit against RealPage last year, claiming that its system enables competing landlords to set rents in line with one another and stifle competition that would benefit tenants. The lawsuit has been joined by two additional attorneys general.
The lawmakers noted that RealPage’s services would allow landlords to hike rents even more aggressively, which would be detrimental to military families.
They requested that the Defense Department respond to a series of questions detailing its approach to protecting service members from irregularities and ascertain whether service member landlords are raising rents by utilizing RealPage’s system.
According to the letter, the Department of Defense has an obligation to shield military families from exploitative private housing organizations and make sure that dishonest landlords do not embezzle federal funds intended for military families.
A request for comment from the Defense Department was not answered.
According to a federal and state complaint filed last year, RealPage’s methodology was the cause of disproportionate price rises in numerous communities near military installations nationwide. These include Spokane, Washington; San Diego; Houston; and portions of Florida.
RealPage vehemently disputes the prosecution’ accusations, claiming they are unfounded. It claims that its approach is intentionally designed to be both legally compliant and to increase competition across the rental housing industry.
RealPage filed a request to have the lawsuit dismissed in early December, claiming that a prior court had dismissed the claim that the landlords’ use of its system constituted a conspiracy to set prices. Last month, the state attorneys general and the Justice Department filed an updated case, adding six landlords they claimed had collaborated with RealPage on its anticompetitive strategy. This week is when RealPage is expected to address the issue.
A request for comment regarding the senators’ letter was not answered by a RealPage representative.
Warren stated in a statement that Secretary Hegseth ought to look into the matter and shield military families from unscrupulous private housing providers. Our military families already give so much to serve our country, frequently having to move every few years, Gallego said in a statement. The purpose of the Basic Housing Allowance is to assist military families, not to enrich corporate landlords.
Area rents have a significant effect on active-duty service men and their families because so many of them reside off base. The Defense Department tracks the Consumer Price Index, Census Bureau surveys, and other statistics to determine its housing allowance. It also gathers information on rental housing expenses for 300 military housing regions in the US.
The government has raised the stipend it offers active-duty service personnel in response to rising housing prices. The allowance increased by an average of 5.4% on January 1st, after increasing by the same amount the previous year and by 12.1% in 2023. According to the department, 1 million service members will receive housing allowance payments totaling about $30 billion this year.
According to Renee Villaman, whose husband, Louis, is stationed at Camp Pendleton, housing costs in San Diego County are especially difficult.
Although she acknowledged that the family of five is lucky to reside on the base, she pointed out that rents on the base appear to be rising in tandem with those in the surrounding off-base communities. Villaman finds the dynamic puzzling because the government owns the property where the base is located.
She questioned, “Where is the pressure on government land that the rent has to go up here when the rent in Oceanside goes up?”
Rising housing expenses are caused by a number of causes. For instance, higher interest rates cause more people to rent since they are unable to afford mortgages, which raises rental prices. Research indicates that rising purchases of single-family rental homes and apartment complexes by corporate and private equity-backed landlords have resulted in a large increase in rents in certain areas, as the supply of housing has not kept up with the demand in recent years.
Another issue: According to Blue Star Families study, active-duty families are less inclined to suggest military service to others if out-of-pocket housing costs rise.
According to Lindsay Knight, chief impact officer of Blue Star Families, the financial stability of military families is crucial for both the families themselves and our national security as a whole. Our all-volunteer force will be stronger and more resilient the more we can support military family security.