THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, April 9, 1996                 TAG: 9604090412
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   45 lines

MILITARY TO TRY WORKING WITH PRIVATE SECTOR ON HOUSING HAMPTON ROADS - WITH ITS 54,000 NAVY FAMILIES - HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS ONE OF 14 INITIAL TEST SITES.

Privatize. Return on investment. Limited partnership.

The words sound strange coming from the military. But they're part of its vocabulary now.

On Monday, representatives of the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Navy presented a nationwide program designed to turn to the private sector for financing of military housing.

Each military service will be allowed to work with a private sector partner to build new, affordable military housing as well as renovate existing units.

Commercial construction, maintenance and funding will help solve an old but growing problem: the lack of quality and affordable living space for military people and their families.

Not enough living space is available on base. Plus, military personnel are forced to live in housing units that are old and need repair, said Robert L. Meyer, director of Housing Revitalization & Support Office, a new Defense Department agency that oversees the housing privatization program. Some military members can't find suitable housing off the base. It's often too expensive, too far or too small.

Private sector participation will help keep building costs down and ensure appealing housing is built to competitive, private standards. Other than that, several other details still need to be worked out.

``The only directions we've gotten from Congress are `don't screw up,' '' Meyer said.

The HRSO has looked at 40 potential sites for the program. Two have been selected as the initial test sites: Corpus Christi, Texas, and Everett, Wash.

Hampton Roads stands to gain a lot from the program because it has the largest concentration of Navy families in the United States, according to Capt. Donald G. Morris, director of Navy Housing. There are approximately 54,000 Navy families in Hampton Roads.

It has already been identified as one of 14 initial test sites. by CNB