The Department of Defense, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (OUSD P&R), Military Compensation Policy Directorate will conduct an Overseas Housing Allowance (OHA) Utility and Move-In Expenses survey from January 1 to March 31, 2022. The survey is designed to collect utility/recurring maintenance and move-in expense data incurred by Uniformed service members stationed overseas who reside in private housing. Your data will assist in determining the Utility/Recurring Maintenance and Move-In Housing Allowances paid to service members in the country you are stationed.
If you receive OHA and meet the following qualifications, you should participate in the survey:
- Have been stationed in the country, where this survey is being conducted, for at least 3 months
- Reside in privately leased quarters (not a homeowner or sharer)
- Receive an Overseas Housing Allowance
If you have participated in previous OHA surveys, the questions will be similar in scope. For the utility portion of the survey, you will be asked to report the average monthly cost of utilities and any routine maintenance expenses you incurred within the last 12 months. For the move-in portion of the survey, you will be asked to report actual expenses incurred when moving into your private residence.
Web Link
You may take the survey at the following link. The deadline to complete the survey is close of business March 31, 2022.
https://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/ohaSurvey.cfm
Your Input Matters
The Overseas Housing Allowance is a valuable entitlement for service members who are stationed overseas. You play a critical role as the data you provide will directly impact the Utility/Recurring Maintenance and Move-In Housing Allowances paid to service members. Your time and effort spent answering the survey questions will enable the Department of Defense to set equitable OHA rates. We ask that you make every effort to take the survey and report your expenses accurately.
Participating in the Survey
The survey takes approximately 30 minutes to complete and should be completed by you or your spouse, whoever has knowledge of your housing expenses. A Common Access Card is not required to access the survey.
Participation in this survey is voluntary and failure to respond will not result in penalty to the respondent.
It is important to provide accurate figures in the OHA survey. Before starting the survey,
- For the utility expenses portion, gather your bills, receipts, and/or records of utility and recurring maintenance expenses incurred within the last 12 months and compute a MONTHLY AVERAGE for each of these expenses.
- For the move-in portion, gather your receipts for all expenses incurred when initially moving into your residence.
You may save the survey, obtain additional information, and resume the survey at any time during the survey timeframe. Please note that incomplete surveys cannot be used as this might result in underreporting of utility/recurring maintenance and move-in expenses. Allowance adjustments based on incomplete data could disadvantage service members.
Responses are held in strictest confidence and are not shared with any other office or agency.
Special Survey Instructions
Currency: Report all your expenses in the currency in which you paid them. Do not convert costs.
Comments Section: Please enter any explanations that might help us better understand your expenses. You may add any additional expenses that were not included in the survey. See the chart below for a list of reportable and non-reportable expenses for this survey.
Read further instructions on what to take into account when counting expenses:
2022 Information Sheet for OHA Utility Move-In Expenses Survey.docx [DOCX - 71.6 KB]
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