Soldiers in Hawaii may ‘double up’ in barracks for the next 15 months

Soldiers assigned to Hawaii have been told they might be “doubled up” in their barracks for at least 15 months, or even longer.

In a town hall with soldiers in Hawaii, an Army commander said officials will have little choice but to keep some soldiers doubled up in barracks rooms as the Army increases the number of troops assigned to Hawaii. Virtually all junior soldiers live on base in Hawaii due to the state’s sky-high cost of living.

U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii Commander Col. Rachel Sullivan acknowledged that the plans do not comply with an Army regulation that specifies the minimum square footage of living space enlisted soldiers should expect in barracks rooms. The garrison provides installation support, including oversight of barracks, for Fort Shafter, Schofield Barracks, Tripler Army Medical Center, and Wheeler Army Airfield.

“I know that it feels like everyone is doubled up right now,” Sullivan said during Tuesday’s town hall. “We have 5,500 total bed spaces. We have 350 rooms that have been reported to us where soldiers are doubled up. So, that’s 700 people impacted because if someone is doubled up, they’re in a room with somebody else.”

Sullivan’s comments were first reported by Military Times. Base officials confirmed to Task & Purpose on Thursday that the bases in the state are in the midst of a major influx of new troops.

“U.S. Army Hawaii is increasing room occupancy because barracks capacity is under significant strain,” an Army spokesperson said. “More than 850 new Soldiers are arriving over the next few months as part of Army force restructuring, while approximately 300 Soldiers were unable to PCS during the recent lapse in appropriations. At the same time, several barracks buildings are offline for long‑term, mission‑essential renovations, and overall barracks occupancy is above 99 percent.”

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Sullivan added that Maj. Gen. James Bartholomees, commander of the 25th Infantry Division, the Army’s largest unit in Hawaii, has secured an “exception to policy” for the barracks for 15 months. But even that, Sullivan said, may not be long enough.

“I would love to be able to tell you that 15 months from now, we won’t have to have any soldiers doubled up in our barracks, but the reality of the situation is we likely will,” Sullivan said. “Right now, we are tracking more than 690 soldiers that are inbound over and above our outbounds in the next 120 days. We’ll still have many of those soldiers as over and above our number of barracks rooms, even 15 months from now.”

The garrison is also moving forward with plans to renovate a building known as Barracks 2081 — “one of our worst barracks in terms of condition” — so soldiers will have to stay doubled up while that building is unavailable, Sullivan said.

Army officials have sought a waiver to double up soldiers in all the garrison’s permanent party barracks instead of just in certain buildings, she said.

“The reason we have done this is because focusing on only the buildings that have the largest rooms would cause us to have to double up every single room in those buildings,” Sullivan said.

“Of a total of 5,500 bed spaces, less than 10% of those right now are actually doubled up,” she continued. “We do not  anticipate we will come anywhere near every room on the installation being doubled up.”

Off-base cost of living too high for junior soldiers

Sullivan also said commanders are being “very, very deliberate”  in granting certificates of non-availability, or CNAs, that allow soldiers to live off base. More than 1,000 soldiers already have the certificates.

She noted that the average Basic Allowance for Housing, or BAH, that a single Army specialist can collect in Hawaii is about $2,600 per month. However, the average local rent is about $3,000 per month, plus up to $600 per month for utilities.

“So we’re trying to be very judicious and very cognizant of not placing soldiers in a financially straining situation by executing certificates of non-availability, and also not placing the local economy in a greater housing shortage situation,” Sullivan said.

Barracks issues have long been a problem for the military. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in October that the Pentagon had established a new barracks task force to improve military housing.  

Hegseth subsequently announced in December that the U.S. military would invest $400 million for “immediate work” on improving housing as part of a $1.2 billion investment plan to renovate barracks across the service.

A 2023 Government Accountability Office report identified numerous problems with barracks on 10 military installations, including mold, cockroaches, bed bugs, rodents, and issues with sewage as well as water quality.

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