Forest Service To Offer A Temporary 50% Refund On Employees' Rental Costs.
Available for around 5,500 employees.
We all know about the problems with government housing for wildfire employees. If most Americans rolled up to government housing at night, they would assume it was haunted, be afraid to enter, and couldn’t believe people lived there. This is why many wildland firefighters live out of their vehicles or in parks. Also, if they wanted to rent privately in the quaint little mountain towns where they are stationed, it would cost them their entire paycheck.
The problem with that is the locals then think you’re homeless, and they call the Sheriff’s office on you. It’s insanely stupid how this has evolved. I lived in my 2001 Ford Taurus for three years while on a Hotshot crew, and was kicked out of plenty of dirt parking areas.
The government-supplied housing consists mainly of dilapidated cabins from the 1950s that have not received much updating. They leak, mice love them, and as I wrote in January, rental costs in these housing units went up substantially, in some cases 100%+.
Not all rental costs went up this much, but I talked to plenty of folks who also saw a 15% or 20% increase. Also, not all stations have housing available, but those that do utilize this housing received some welcomed news this afternoon.
Today, the Forest Service announced that employees living in these government-owned housing units will receive a temporary 50% refund of their rental costs.
Fairly substantial.
Today, alongside Secretary Vilsack and Under Secretary Wilkes, I am pleased to announce a temporary housing refund that we estimate will benefit 4,500-5,500 employees in Forest Service housing through the end of fiscal year 2024.
Since this refund relies upon specific emergency conditions, it is temporary while emergency conditions last. USDA’s Forest Service anticipates leveraging the emergency authority for no more than a year while we concurrently work on government policy changes that address the emergency conditions. Once emergency conditions are addressed, the Forest Service will provide a 60-day advance notice to employees announcing the end of the emergency housing refund.
Chief Randy Moore
The announcement says it will consist of nearly 5,500 employees and cover everyone who is a GS-10 and below or a grade employee. If you are above a GS-10 pay scale, the Forest Service will offer a temporary refund of 10% of the rental costs for employees who are GS level 11, step 1, through GS 13, step 10.
As the Chief says, they do not expect this to last longer than a year. They will use existing funds to cover the costs and will continue to focus efforts on fixing current living conditions. When the temporary refund period ends, they will give employees a 60-day notice before the program halts.
The announcement also noted that recipients will receive the refund within 9 to 11 weeks. Given that rents have already gone up in these housing units, the Wildfire Commission has recommended a review of how these rates are determined and has made recommendations on how these policies should be changed.
How about this: If it leaks, has rodents living in it, has broken windows, or hasn’t been updated since the 1960s… you can’t raise rent. Frankly, if this housing was privately owned and people lived there, the owner would be considered a slum lord. And if the pay issues aren’t fixed, we will continue to see Hotshots living in parks and locals complaining about the “homeless.”
The Forest Service and the Office of Personnel Management are reviewing the Wildfire Commission’s recommendations. They also announced the following goals moving forward:
Submit housing-specific budget requests for congressional consideration through the annual budget process.
Use all possible funds from the FY 2024 budget to prioritize investments in employee housing.
Finalize the National Housing Strategy, a comprehensive plan that will assist the agency in addressing the affordability, availability and condition of Forest Service housing.
Continue to make progress and administer our existing Quarters Program thanks to employees like our national housing project manager, Procurement and Property Services housing managers, and district-based tenant managers.
Collaborate with NFFE.
In collaborating with NFFE, the Union expressed an effort to explore options for rental relief for those renting privately in highly inflated mountain towns around the West. If this came to fruition, it would be huge.
“The Forest Service is also exploring options to provide housing relief for those renting from private housing providers in high cost of living areas.
Forest Service employees deserve to have a safe, affordable, and reliable place to live, but many do not. As the cost of living has soared in desirable locations near our National Forests, USFS employees have been priced out, especially when considering many earn substandard wages. In places where USFS housing is available, it is often dilapidated, dangerous, and costly, requiring employees to make repairs on their own with money from their own pockets. Today, we have taken an incredibly significant step toward solving this issue.”
NFFE President Randy Erwin
Notably, “the temporary housing refund will address the March 10 annual rental rate increase and will be retroactive to that date.”
So, the refund will be backdated, and a 50% refund will be available retroactively to March 10th.
It seems that lately, everything proposed has been temporary, but this is the problem with how Congress has been dealing with budgets and any sort of permanent assurances for employees like wildland firefighters. Sec. Vilsak is aware of this and mentioned that Congress's continued extensions of the pay legislation are becoming a problem for employees trying to plan more than a year ahead.
Wildfire has been a focus this week in D.C. with the Administration’s 2024 Wildfire Briefing yesterday and advocacy groups talking to representatives in Congress about the Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act. As I discussed with NFFE reps on last week’s podcast, the legislation is basically a slam dunk in the Senate and would be the same in the House if it wasn't held up in the Natural Resources Committee.
There is a disagreement about how it will be paid for… Crazy because it’s become the norm for Congress to spend way out of its means for basically anything else. It’s become political gamesmanship… once again.
After listening to USDA Sec. Vilsak talk about the WFPPA; it’s clear he is on board. I think many representatives are as well. They just can’t get it to a vote.
Maybe that will change sometime during this summer session. Talking with Union reps while they have been in D.C. this last week, they say every meeting they’ve had feels like progress, so that’s great to hear.
Once again, there are still three options for the WFPPA. It can pass permanently, which would be ideal. It can be extended again after being attached to a larger piece of legislation, the status quo. Or they can let it expire in September and watch the result of that.
If I were a gambling man, I would put my money on the proven and most likely scenario, an extension of the legislation until the next Congress is elected and reconvenes. I hope a permanent fix can be done, but it needs to get through the committee first.
If they let it expire, I will have to start agreeing with the people in my inbox who claim they are willingly trying to downsize and destroy the current workforce. Because letting wildland firefighters take a 40% paycheck while fire season is still in full swing seems like a really stupid idea.
They can’t be that stupid, right?!
THE HOTSHOT WAKE UP — Thank you to all of our paid subscribers. Your support allows us to donate generously to firefighter charities and supports all of our content. You also receive all of our article archives, more podcast episodes, Monday morning workouts, and also entered into our giveaways, plus more.
Soooo are they gonna ask for that paid out? Temporary seems like we owe them. Just like they did on our paychecks for Social Security