Service members will benefit from improved quality of housing because of the positive effect that higher BAH will have on housing privatization efforts. In these programs, private developers provide and maintain housing for service members and their family members. Privatization can provide new housing in areas where available housing is limited. Improved BAH increases the income available to private sector developers, facilitating increases in the quantity and quality of privatized housing. Said Cohen, The military simply cannot afford to build, own and maintain enough quality housing to meet our needs.
Adequate housing is a core military requirement.
But building and maintaining housing is not a core military competency. It makes good sense to incentivize the private sector to provide the housing we need. Having said that, it is also critically important to maintaining funding for government-owned and operated housing. The moratorium was originally introduced in January 1999 to give Navy health and fitness experts an opportunity to establish a program consistent with good health and a more arduous fitness standard. Those efforts continue while officials strive to establish the most effective means of implementing a culture of physical fitness in the Navy.