Nationwide military housing program lands at Travis

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Candy Knight
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The Travis Housing office recently joined a program designed to provide a single source of information regarding available housing for servicemembers and their families.

The Automated Housing Referral Network is a nationwide, joint service, DoD-sponsored program that provides servicemembers a 24-hour, seven days a week, information network via the internet regarding U.S. housing options.

"The system is currently active at 76 DoD installations," said Ms. Mariah Garcia, Travis Housing Community Referral Specialist. "Property managers or landlords can post their rental properties with up to five photos of the rental. Military members and their spouses can 'shop' on line for a rental anytime of the day."

According to Ms. Garcia, Travis isn't new to Web based housing programs. In January 2001, the Housing Office created the similar, yet local, M2Mreferral.com housing site.

"The numerous Travis personnel and Pride Industries employees who developed the [M2Mreferral.com] site have helped thousands of Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard servicemembers in the continental U.S. find rental housing," she said.
AHRN.com differs from the former Web site in that AHRN has more enhanced features such as increased security.

"The only way to view housing properties on the site is for the servicemember or spouse, to register," Ms. Garcia said. "Also AHRN has a feature that provides a Housing Office review of the property. A military member will now know if the rental has been inspected, which helps expedite a military member's commitment to renting the unit."

Other features of the site allows military members to contact an independent "Moving Station" consultant to receive professional, unbiased assistance to purchase a property. The site also allows military members to list their properties, with up to five photos of the property, at no charge.

"Under the M2Mreferral Web site, properties were listed under 'for sale by owner,' which meant that it could be listed by anyone, not just military members," Ms. Garcia said.

According to Mr. Mark Dupree, Travis Housing Manager, the genesis of AHRN was Travis' M2Mreferral.com.

"At the time, it was groundbreaking," he said. "We were seen as renegade, but we knew it was best for our servicemembers and their families who needed the internet to access the information when their schedules allowed."
Currently, the plan is to expand AHRN from the current 76 to the 265 major DoD installations in the United States.

For more information, members can visit http://www.ahrn.com/, or contact Ms. Garcia at 424-1470 or mariah.garcia@travis.af.mil.