Town Hall meeting addresses base housing privatization at Edwards Published July 20, 2011 By Diane Betzler Staff Writer EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Keeping his promise, Col. Gregory Schwab, 95th Air Base Wing commander, held a second town hall meeting to discuss exactly what housing privatization means to base residents July 13. "Tonight's town hall is a fulfillment of a promise that we made to you at the last town hall meeting," Schwab said as he welcomed residents and went over the evening's agenda. A town hall meeting on Nov. 9 introduced the Air Force's plan to privatize base housing at Edwards. The meeting ended with some unanswered questions for residents and base leadership alike. "We promised then as we got closer to privatized housing we would call you together to share with you as much information as we have," Colonel Schwab said. More than 200 base residents filled the Conference Center to hear the latest. The way officials explain it, the good life at Edwards is about to get better. Bill Mulvey is vice president of communications for Picerne, the company chosen by the Air Force to take over military housing at Edwards and a group of other bases. He explained some of the advantages of having his company own and maintain base housing. Mulvey said privatized housing is a 50-year partnership with the Air Force and brings private capital into the venture. "We can build new houses, renovate older homes and maintain all base housing," he said, adding that his is a self-sustaining company that guarantees the military is always going to have quality housing. The company also plans to build neighborhood centers at each installation. Amenities offered at the centers will vary. Mulvey said the Edwards neighborhood center is designed be the heart and soul of the community. It will offer residents a "super" club house; an exercise facility with a play area connected to it; a computer center with internet connection; a multi-purpose room; a full-service kitchen; a media room with a big screen television and an office manned with Picerne staff where residents can go to take care of any housing business. Possible outdoor amenities are still being discussed. Mulvey describes the Edwards neighborhood center as a place where people can gather to meet their neighbors, exercise and play. "We're giving the military something they've not had before," he said. Currently, Picerne takes care of homes for 20,000 military families across the country on seven bases. With the addition of the Continental Group, which covers Eielson, Edwards, McConnell, Hurlburt Field, Eglin and Seymour Johnson Air Forces bases, Picerne will add another 4,188 homes to its portfolio of on-base military homes. Schwab quoted Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, United States Air Force chief of staff, when addressing why the Air Force has elected to go with privatized housing. He said Schwartz believes U.S. Airmen deserve the best. "Airmen and their families make us a world-class organization and deserve world-class support." The base commander said Picerne is going to build a community of excellence at Edwards, which the Air Force describes as four pillars that include schools, homes, medical care and base services. "We have a baseline of great homes here at Edwards and now with our partnership with Picerne, we're going to take that to the next level," Schwab said. He said since switching to privatization the Air Force provides 900 new homes per month, Air Force wide. "As you PCS [permanent change of station] around the Air Force you will always have nice housing," he said. Schwab said the Air Force Center for Engineering and Environment will remain as part of the team to make sure the Air Force gets what it contracted for. During the town hall, Ernie Casiano, Housing Privatization Program Manager for AFCEE, spoke about how the housing privatization program is the number one quality of life program in the Air Force. He explained how the new program will work and said rent for a house is based on the Airmen's rank, not the size of the house or number of bedrooms. Base resident Airmen will receive basic allowance for housing much like Airmen who live off base, and the BAH will be enough to cover rent, utilities and renter's insurance. Residents will sign a lease agreement with Picerne, the property owner, which is expected to take over Oct. 1. All base residents will be required to sign the new paperwork on or before that date. If a resident runs into an issue with his home, he need only call the property owner management office for service calls. Picerne will provide lawn maintenance for both front and back yards; the resident no longer has to maintain his own yard. Should house occupancy drop below 95 percent, the property owner is permitted to rent to other active duty military members and their families. If low occupancy continues for more than 30 days, the company can then rent to federal civil service employees, retired military members and retired federal civil service employees. Should a low occupancy go beyond 60 consecutive days the property owner can consider renting to Department of Defense contractor employees, provided they are U.S. citizens. After 90 days of low occupancy the company can consider renting to the general public. "The rules will always lean toward military families stationed here," Schwab said. "If there's a big change to the mission, the PO will restructure," agreed Casiano. "There are still a lot of unknowns," Mulvey said, adding that there are questions officials still can't answer, but residents now understand why some questions can't yet be addressed. He said the big accomplishment at this latest privatized housing meeting is that base residents understand the program better and have a clearer understanding of what Picerne is and what is going to happen. "Tonight was a great start, we provided information and received feedback from our base residents," Schwab said, adding he will remain connected with this process. "The installation commander is still in the loop," Schwab said. One more town hall meeting is being planned for a time just before Picerne gets ready to take possession of the homes, which will likely be in late August or early September.