Photo By Samantha Harms | Staff Sgt. Bryon McGainey, an Army Reserve noncommissioned officer called onto active...... read more read more
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FORT CAVAZOS, Texas — Houses offer much more than just 500 square feet to keep your items and occasionally bathe; they can provide someone comfort, a refuge and a place to call their own.
A shortage of housing, both on and off the installation, has left some people without a permanent home of their own. They often have to stay in hotels or in Airbnb’s for long periods of time, which resorts to high expenses.
Both the former U.S. Army Garrison-Fort Cavazos commander and the Fort Cavazos Housing Services Office wanted to work to fix that issue. So, they went out into the community and found a solution.
The Military Value Program assists Soldiers and their families with affordable, temporary living arrangements upon arrival to Central Texas. The program utilizes area hotels, Airbnb options and fully-furnished “corporate” apartments, all of which charge at a reduced rate at or near the basic allowance for housing rate in the area.
This keeps the out-of-pocket expenses down for incoming service members and their families.
“Previously, there were a lot of service members coming in, but we just didn’t have a lot of hotels and availability for the short term,” expressed LaKia Ellis, a housing management specialist for the HSO, during a recent episode of the Great Big Podcast. “So, we went in and started looking for short term property managers that were willing to work with the families that are coming here and are waiting for housing on the installation.”
Col. Chad R. Foster, the former Fort Cavazos Garrison commander, talked about the creation of this program during his final community leader dinner July 6 at Central Texas College.
“Prices, inflation, everything (has) hit new highs,” he started. “I went out, hat in hand, and didn’t know how I was going to be received. And I asked, ‘I need your help.’ I went to many different forums, and I said, ‘Hey, I need short term, furnished properties, as close to basic allowance housing rate as I can get. I need that; I need to be able to rent week to week, month to month for these families as they wait on their new permanent housing.’
“And I went to bed after all of those (forums), and thought, ‘Man, I don’t know. I don’t know what we’re going to get,’” Foster continued. “That’s a tough order. Then, you wake up the next morning, and you start getting phones calls or getting emails or getting messages about, ‘Hey, here’s what I think we can do.’ Now, we have a program here that’s unique throughout the military, not just the Army, where exactly what I described is what we got. Just under 100 properties, saving families thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, taking that stress off those youngsters as they come in.”
The program began here in 2021, and Staff Sgt. Bryon McGainey, an Army Reserve noncommissioned officer called onto active duty from Richmond, Virginia, and serving with First Army Division West, has been taking advantage of the program since.
“Initially, I thought I was only going to be here for one year, so, I thought that it might have been a problem to look someplaces,” McGainey shared during that same episode of the Great Big Podcast. “Once I went to the (housing) office and I explained my situation, they were welcoming with open arms. Another thing that I enjoy about it, with (my apartment complex) being part military, part civilian community. The civilians that I’ve talked to, they like that Soldiers are living there. It’s a good community relationship.”
His tour at Fort Cavazos was just recently extended again, so his apartment complex, Copper Mountain Apartment Complex in Killeen, was thrilled to sign him on for another year.
“Fort Cavazos cares about the MVP program and the temporary housing needs,” McGainey expressed. “I’m a little biased; I’ve heard stories of how Soldiers didn’t go out there and conduct their own research about housing and they’ve been overcharged and the facility doesn’t match the money that they’re paying. As with the MVP program, they have taken really good care of the Soldiers that are willing to participate.”
In addition, the command staff worked closely with Killeen Independent School District to help ensure as limited transitions for children as possible. If a family lives in one school district, but knows their permanent housing will be in another, KISD will work to make sure that the child will attend school where their permanent housing is.
“That’s what our housing office is here for,” Ellis shared. “We are here to promote, you know, are here to assist families with obtaining housing. And that’s important that any family that is coming into the installation, that they reach out to us so that we can tell them the options that we have available, all of their housing options that we’re aware of, no matter where they’re at, we come out and do a variety of things.”
“That’s what we want for the families to help make that transition because it’s stressful moving somewhere you don’t know,” Ellis stated. “You may not have family here or friends here. So, everything is new, not just for the service member, but for the family as well. So, just knowing you have that connection or someone that you can pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, Housing Service Office, I have this issue or I’m getting nervous about this or what should I do here?’ We’re here for that. We’re here. We’ve been here for a while, so we know the area. And we’ll do whatever we have to do to help the service members and their families.”
If a service member needs to participate in the program, or if a housing organization wishes to participate, contact the housing services office at 254-287-4212.
| Date Taken: | 07.27.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 12.07.2023 17:57 |
| Story ID: | 459447 |
| Location: | FORT CAVAZOS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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