FORT LEE, Va.— Two Fort Lee Soldiers traveled hundreds of miles across Central Virginia this summer to help ensure accurate information about available housing surrounding the Fort Lee area was provided for the Army’s annual Basic Allowance for Housing survey.
The Calendar Year 2027 Basic Allowance for Housing, or BAH, survey began March 16 and concludes Aug. 7. To support the effort, Fort Lee’s Directorate of Public Works Housing Division requested a military detail to assist with community housing inspections while the Housing Services Office continued serving incoming and departing service members and their families.
With the Housing Services Office reduced to one employee, completing hundreds of off-post housing inspections over several months while maintaining daily customer service became an increasingly difficult task. Each year, the Army Housing Office requests assistance from military units across the installation to help collect housing market data used to determine annual BAH rates.
Military members selected for the mission are chosen by their leadership for their professionalism, reliability and ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
From May 5 through July 9, Staff Sgt. Ashanti Harris and Sgt. Christian Roman completed 275 exterior inspections of community housing throughout the Fort Lee Military Housing Area to verify properties met survey requirements for the CY2027 BAH data collection effort.
Their mission took them throughout the region, from Glen Allen to Dinwiddie, Sandston to Moseley and communities in between. Along the way, they visited 28 apartment communities, meeting with property managers on behalf of the Housing Services Office to gather rental market information, verify apartment availability and identify military discounts offered to service members and their families.
Their work in the community allowed the Housing Services Office to continue providing uninterrupted walk-in customer service while meeting all required deadlines for the annual BAH survey.
The data collected during the survey helps ensure military housing allowances accurately reflect local rental market conditions. For the past seven years, Fort Lee’s Military Housing Area has consistently received BAH rate increases, a reflection of the quality and accuracy of the data collected through the annual survey.
In recognition of their outstanding service, Harris and Roman each received a Coin of Excellence from Command Sgt. Maj. Melisha Wilson for their professionalism, dedication and commitment to the mission.
Although much of their work took place behind the scenes, their efforts directly supported military families across the Fort Lee community. By helping complete this critical mission, Harris and Roman ensured the Housing Services Office was able to meet all deadlines associated with collecting the information needed to determine CY2027 housing allowances for all Soldiers.