Housing privatization update

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Wade Lawrence
  • 60th Civil Engineering Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  You may have been hearing rumors that Travis' housing privatization deal is being cancelled or postponed. Even though the current status is still very fluid, we wanted to provide you the most current information we have at the time this article was written July 9.

The most recent published date for the signing of the housing privatization deal between the Air Force and the developer was to be July 14. The base was really leaning forward in anticipation of that signing date - leases were signed, the developer was bringing on new workers, and the base Housing Office and current housing maintenance contractor started to reduce staff.
But then Murphy showed up. That July 14 signing date is now unlikely.

What happened? Well, over the past several months, the developer has been working on securing tens of millions of dollars in loans and financial backing to fund their portion of this 50-year deal. But just in the last few weeks, the financial markets have unexpectedly and dramatically fluctuated. This means it would now cost the developer millions of additional dollars to borrow that money, to the point where the developer believes they may actually lose money on the whole deal.

So, what is being done? Right now, teams from the Air Force, financial institutions and the developer are aggressively working overtime together to find solutions to bridge the gap to get the deal back "in the black" so it can be signed. It's not an easy process. The daily wild swings in the financial market make it even more challenging. All parties are 100 percent dedicated to getting the deal signed, and we're confident we should have a new signing date within the next few weeks.

In the meantime, how does this affect you? If you signed a lease, that lease is no longer valid -you'll have to sign a revised lease once the privatization deal is signed. Once that deal is signed, you will be contacted on what to do to sign a revised lease. Housing residents will not be receiving basic allowance for housing, or have any of their paycheck go towards a rent allotment.

You're still responsible for mowing your own grass. In essence, as a base housing resident it's status quo. However, you may notice that our housing and housing maintenance professionals aren't always able to respond to requests as fast as we'd like. They are at reduced manning, and with a hectic PCS season here they are busier than they've ever been - we ask for your understanding on that front.

The bottom line is that privatization is not a dead issue - we're in a "tactical pause" waiting for a new deal signing date. There are lots of smart folks behind the scenes doing their best to make privatization at Travis a reality, and we hope to have good news for you soon. If you have other questions, don't hesitate to call the Housing Office at 424-8119. Thank you for your continued patience.