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SALT LAKE CITY — A new bill aims to encourage the development of affordable housing projects near military bases, including northern Utah's Hill Air Force Base.
"We're hoping that is something developers will see as a potential benefit to them," Utah Rep. Blake Moore said in a press call Thursday afternoon after introducing the bill to the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. "They can offer potential housing units at a lower cost to our service members."
The Low Income Housing for Defense Communities Act of 2024, introduced by Utah Rep. Blake Moore and sponsored by Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., as a bipartisan effort, proposes an amendment to the IRS code that would increase subsidies going toward the construction and rehabilitation of housing developments if they submit to strict tenant income limits.
If passed, the bill would allow military members to not count housing allowance pay as income. Moore says the bill would help military members secure housing they might not otherwise qualify for.
Another amendment, as part of the bill, would increase the tax credit for new residential rental projects within 15 miles of "large military installations," which includes over 120 "mid-level major bases" in the U.S., according to Moore. Those projects are not required to house only military members.
In Utah, the only applicable installation is Hill Air Force Base, which exceeds the Department of Defense's calculated "total plant replacement value" of $2.833 billion.
While critics of the bill say the move would displace people already qualified for the competitive, low-income housing options, Clearfield Mayor Mark Shepherd, who brought the idea to Moore, said, "What they don't understand is that our military members are low-income, and that's beyond sad."
"Our airmen, soldiers, sailors don't have the housing that they need at a rate that they can afford," Shepherd said.
In a prepared statement sent out before Thursday's call, Shepherd argues the list of applicants for low-income housing near Hill Air Force Base is long, "and the military members either won't qualify because their (housing allowance) is included in their income calculations or they are so far down the list that they have been relocated to their next assignment before they make it to the top of the list."
Emily Cadik, CEO of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, said the low-income housing tax credit has financed over 8,000 affordable homes in Utah so far.
"There's a lot more that can be done in Utah and all over the country," she said. "The supply is simply just short of meeting anywhere near the need for affordable housing, especially given how much worse it's gotten in recent years with inflation."
Cadik says the cost of housing is about a third of the inflation index, so "you really can't address inflation without bringing down the cost of housing."
Moore said the bill also seeks to address the extensive construction and maintenance backlog at military installations.
The Congressional Budget Office studied "more than 100,000 buildings maintained by the active components of the military services in the United States and its territories," finding that "the four services' backlog of building maintenance was about $50 billion," according to 2020 data.
"More than 40% of the Air Force's and Army's buildings had exceeded their expected lifespan," the report said.
In a social media poll, many told KSL.com that the high cost of living in Utah forced their families into on-base housing.
Senior Airman Samuel Gebhart said his family of four was fully approved for a $400,000 VA loan when they moved to Utah two months ago but was forced on base because they could not find a safe area within a reasonable commute.
Abi Kongaika, whose husband is on active duty, said when they got their assignment to move to Hill earlier this year, they "were shocked to find out that (the housing allowance) is $278 less than Tyndall AFB where you can still buy new homes for $300K! It doesn't make sense."
Krysten Teagarden's family receives an E-6 staff sergeant pay grade of around $50,000 but says that while they owned houses at every other duty assignment, they can't afford to live off-base at Hill. "We are left pretty isolated, oftentimes," she said.
Hill Air Force Base spokesperson Kendahl Johnson said "the occupancy for on-base privatized housing is 98%, and there is a waitlist," based on "the individual's housing needs, determined by such factors as their rank and size of their family."
"For some, there is no wait, while others may wait six to eight months," Johnson said.
The bill does not address civilian government employees with a similar "locality" pay structure. As of 2023, over 14,500 civilian employees made up over half of Hill Air Force Base's workforce. Tooele Army Depot has nearly 500 workers, and all but two are civilian employees, according to Col. Luke Clover.
The bill has "been seen by every level in the Pentagon and has huge support from the leadership of the Air Force," Shepherd said. "We still have a long way to go to get this to the finish line, but this is the first major hurdle."
