Government to Ease Housing Costs for a Million Americans

By adjusting allowances for service members, the government will ease housing costs for a million Americans.

The federal government gives a housing allowance to soldiers who don't live on bases. The amount of money service members receive depends on their location, pay grade and whether they have dependents.

Every year, the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is recalculated each year based on rental housing costs in more than 300 military housing areas in the U.S. This is done to reflect the changing cost of living, using a variety of data sources. These include U.S. Census Bureau survey data, Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index, commercial subscription rental cost databases, online rental listing websites, and input from the military services and local military installation housing offices.

From January, 1, 2024, the BAH rates will increase by an average of 5.4 percent, the Department of Defense said in a press release, meaning an estimated $27.9 billion will be paid to around 1 million service members.

Newsweek has contacted the Department of Defense by email to comment on this story.

The BAH increases come as part of the most recent National Defense Authorization Act, which supports $841.4 billion in funding for the Defense Department.

The bill, which was passed by the House and the Senate, will now go to President Joe Biden for his signature. It also increases family separation allowance to $400 per month and increases basic pay for service members by 5.2 percent.

The legislation would also extend the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides funding for the federal government to pay industry to produce new weapons to send to the country, through to the end of 2026.

"This important legislation not only authorizes a 5.2 percent pay increase for service members and civilian employees... but directly invests in America's national security and military power projection to meet the challenges of the 21st century," said Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder during a briefing on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the increase follows 2023's BAH rate adjustment, in which rates increased by an average of 12.1 percent. This was the largest year-over-year percentage jump in the Basic Allowance for Housing in at least 15 years. In the same year, all active-duty troops received a 4.6 percent pay rise, the biggest pay increase in two decades, as part of an annual defense authorization bill.

"The Department is committed to the preservation of a compensation and benefit structure that provides members with an adequate standard of living to sustain a trained, experienced, and ready force now and in the future," the release said.