Overseas Housing Allowance survey now available

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  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  The annual Overseas Housing Allowance Utility and Recurring Maintenance survey is now available for military members stationed on Okinawa.

The survey will be conducted until June 13 for Japan. The approximately 45-minute survey is designed to collect utility and recurring maintenance expense data incurred by service members stationed overseas who reside in private housing.

Those who have participated in the survey before will be familiar with the questions as they cover the same information. Participants will be asked to report the average month cost of utlitilites and the monthly cost of any routine maintenance expenses incurred over the past 12 months.

To take the survey, go to https://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/oha-util-may.cfm.

While participation is not mandatory, low participation could negatively impact the fiscal year 2015 OHA rates.

Before starting the survey, gather bills, receipts, and records of utility and recurring maintenance expenses for the last 12 months and compute a monthly average for each of these expenses. In addition, there is a special section of the survey for combined utilities when only one bill is received, such as a bill that combines cost for water and sewage.

The survey can be saved in order for participants to obtain additional information and resume the survey at any time during the survey timeframe. Directions on how to do "save" and "resume" are included in the survey. Please note that incomplete surveys cannot be used as this might result in underreporting of utility/recurring maintenance expenses. Subsequent allowance adjustments based on incomplete data could disadvantage Service members eligible for utility payments.