Fort Leavenworth Housing Oversight Office addresses resident concerns

By Katie Peterson, Fort Leavenworth LampSeptember 16, 2019

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (Sept. 9, 2019) -- Residents of on-post housing have several resources to contact about their housing concerns, including the Fort Leavenworth Housing Oversight Office, formerly known as Residential Communities Initiative Office.

The office was created in 2006 when Fort Leavenworth transitioned from Army housing to privatized housing.

"The Fort Leavenworth Housing Oversight Office works as senior advisers to the Garrison commander, who is the secretary of the Army's representative for RCI Housing," said Lindsay Aspinwall, RCI program analyst. "RCI is an outstanding program. Locally, this opportunity has provided Fort Leavenworth with 708 new homes, 522 renovated homes, and within the 50-year contract, every legacy home on post will be (demolished) and replaced with like homes similar to homes found in the surrounding communities."

Aspinwall said the HOO serves as an advocate for privatized housing residents.

"The HOO also has oversight of the housing partner (Fort Leavenworth Frontier Heritage Communities) to ensure compliance with the Community Development and Management Plan, property management agreements, operations and legal agreements," she said. "Our goal is to have a strong partnership (with FLFHC) that will result in continued improvement in our housing communities for the future."

On a daily basis, the HOO performs all between-occupancy maintenance inspections to fix any problems before a new resident moves in; reviews all life, health and safety work orders; reviews 5 percent of all other closed work orders; and "warm calls" residents to ensure satisfaction, Aspinwall said.

"The HOO has an open-door policy. Anytime a resident is not satisfied with the service they are or are not receiving, they can call or come by our office," Aspinwall said. "Should a resident visit or call our office, we can immediately engage with Frontier Heritage Communities' community director to quickly resolve any housing issues or concerns."

The Fort Leavenworth HOO at 220 Hancock Ave. is open 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call Dave Otto, HOO resident liaison, at (913) 684-5674 or visit https://home.army.mil/leavenworth/index.php/my-fort/all-services/housing-services-office-1. For more information about the RCI program, visit www.rci.army.mil.