[Advance Decision Concerning Continued Payment of Basic Allowance for Quarters]

In response to a request from an Air Force accounting and finance officer, GAO rendered an advance decision as to whether a military member, who lived in temporary facilities incident to a permanent change of station, could receive continued payment of the basic allowance for quarters and a variable housing allowance for any period in excess of 30 days. A decision was requested because this is a frequently occurring problem. The member and his dependents were temporarily living in the facility because the assigned Government quarters were not yet available. GAO stated that statutory authority disallows entitlement to the basic allowance for quarters to a member who has been provided with Government quarters and, in this case, the member was not entitled to a variable housing allowance since that allowance is contingent upon entitlement to the former. A Department of Defense directive states that the basic allowance is payable if the occupancy does not exceed 30 days. GAO has held that a member of the uniformed services may occupy temporary lodging facilities in excess of 30 days without loss of the quarters allowance if a substantial rent is paid and if the quarters are acquired and operated with nonappropriated funds. Since the facilities in this case were built and maintained with appropriated funds, the exception requirements were not met. GAO noted that the 30-day rule is established by regulation and that the applicable directive permits the local commander to grant an extension beyond the 30 days on a case-by-case basis where personal hardship is a factor.