As part of Secretary Austin’s commitment to take care of our people, and to ensure our Service members and families are able to secure affordable basic needs (including housing), the Department of Defense (DoD) has authorized temporary increases to 2022 Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) rates for 28 military housing areas (MHAs) across the United States. The increased BAH rates for affected Service members in these MHAs will take effect October 1, 2022 and continue through December 31, 2022.
Service members who are assigned to a duty station in one of the affected 28 MHAs are eligible to receive BAH at the increased rates automatically. Service members do not have to apply to receive them, nor do they have to certify they have incurred higher housing costs. These automatic increases could increase total BAH payments to members by an estimated $206 million by year’s end.
2023 BAH rates will replace these temporary rates on January, 1, 2023. Although by law, normal BAH rate protection―which protects members from decreases in housing market costs―does not apply to these rate increases, DoD is making every effort to ensure these rates remain as stable as possible and will not vary considerably from the 2023 BAH rates.
The Department is taking this action because of unusually large spikes in median rental housing costs in some MHAs (an average of more than 20 percent), which has made it especially challenging for Service members and their families in the affected MHAs to find affordable housing in the vicinity of their duty stations. This increase in BAH rates reflects the Department’s commitment to the Secretary of Defense’s top priority—to take care of our people.
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