WIESBADEN, Germany - Soldiers with a spouse and at least two children who receive a statement of nonavailability for on-post housing after July 1 may also receive a reimbursement for realtor fees through Sept. 30.
U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden officials hope that authorizing the reimbursements will encourage Soldiers to use realtors in their housing searches and thereby decrease waiting times and providing more variety, said Donald Meyer, chief of Wiesbaden Housing. Generally speaking, realtor fees are equal to two months of "cold" rent, meaning rent not including utility costs.
The 90-day program, which began July 1, only applies to Soldiers, Meyer said.
Civilians moving to Wiesbaden are authorized to itemize their moving expenses with their Civilian Personnel Advisory Center (commonly called CPAC) and receive partial reimbursement for realtor fees if approved by CPAC.
To take advantage of the program, Soldiers must first report to the Housing Office and complete the in-processing procedure to determine if on-post housing is available that meets their grade and bedroom requirement.
If on-post quarters are not available within 60 days of arrival, the Soldier will be authorized for the reimbursement of realtor fee, Meyer said.
For those approved for the reimbursement, Soldiers will be limited to a 30-day temporary lodging allowance, Meyer said. Currently it takes us approximately 45 days to house a family off-post without realtor fees.
By reimbursing realtor fees and staying under 30 days for assignments, the garrison saves the additional 15 days of TLA, which is approximately the cost needed for the realtor fee, Meyer said.
As long as Soldiers are not drawing the allowance (for example, those commuting from Heidelberg), the 30-day limitation does not kick in until they are required to move and clear quarters in Heidelberg by Aug. 30, Meyer said.
The reason the reimbursement is only for Soldiers with a spouse and two children or more is because those families require three bedrooms or more, and those are the most difficult housing orders to fill, Meyer said.
The inventory of two-bedroom off-post quarters and smaller is sufficient to meet housing demands.
Housing issues Soldiers a statement of nonavailability for housing if housing is not projected to be available within 60 days of their arrival, Meyer said.
Soldiers will learn more about the program during inprocessing, and the controls that are in place to protect Soldiers and prevent abuse of the program, Meyer said.
Social Sharing