Warrens in BASE HOUSING.

I probably should have wrote about our experience with housing when it was fresh on my mind. This week's earthquake and language lessons are really the latest news, and probably more interesting to you, but housing in Okinawa is an important topic for military families coming here to live, so there ya go.

WARNING: If you're not military, this post will be boring. That's why I'm posting 2 today : )

 I guess maybe it helps to know that housing is the most stressful part of your first week in Okinawa? I put a question mark there because really I'm not sure if it helps to know that beforehand or not, but you'll discover it soon enough. The good news is, housing is the most stressful part of your first week here in Okinawa.  : )

Disclaimer: What you read here was my experience and might/might not be yours.

Our priority in our housing experience was finding a pet-friendly place to live as Minnie doesn't like it anymore when I stuff her in a pocketbook in public. So we put that we had a dog in our housing application. We were offered two options, both in the same tower on Kinser. They have a "live where you work" policy, so Kinser is the closest base to Futenma, where Jonah actually works. Our housing options were tier 1, meaning the best option for us as far as proximity to work. However, they were not pet-friendly. I guess it's safe to say that although you should put that you have a pet in your housing application, they will not let that affect their decision in offering you a tier 1 house. Now, in the past you would have had two options: 1. send your pets back to the states on your own dime. or... 2. volunteer to live somewhere that has pet-friendly housing avaliable, as far away as Camp Courtney.  However, the Commandant of the Marine Corps recently visited Okinawa and found out about the various problems with housing. Ever since, the housing office has been a little more sympathetic and accomodating. A little more. Don't expect much. We were upset about our choices and came up with a list of vacant houses in neighborhoods on Foster and Lester (because there is no officer pet-friendly tower on Kinser). We found out that you only are offered two tier 1 places and if you deny them then your TLA stops. Supposedly. However, that's not entirely accurate. In our case, we were told we could volunteer for tier 2 pet-friendly housing, if it was avaliable. We also have friends who were able to refuse tier 1 housing options if they were unlivable (dirty, mold, etc.) or if they have pets (like in our case). If you have a valid reason like that to refuse your options, they will either offer you another tier 1 option or in our case, they can offer you a tier 2 pet-friendly option if no other tier 1 pet-friendly options are avaliable. I hope this makes sense.

So, we didn't even look at the tier 1 options, as they were not pet-friendly. We asked if there were any tier 2 pet-friendly housing before we refused the tier 1 option so that we could keep our TLA from stopping. [side note on that later]  She was able to tell us that there was tier 2 pet-friendly avalible, but she could not tell us where until we officially refused our tier 1 non-pet-friendly options. So, since the risk was gone we went ahead and accepted tier 2 right there. We were VERY surprised to learn that we would be living in a tier 2 duplex on Kadena Air Force Base. We had thought we would be assigned to a neighborhood on Lester, called Old Lester, but there was no availability. Instead, we were assigned to tier 2 housing on Kadena, which needless to say is as nice as tier 1 housing on a marine base. Shocker.

And we lived happily ever after. The End.

Just kidding : ) But seriously, for those of you who are planning to come with pets, go in with an open mind and gracious spirit, but have a battle plan--> a list of places on Lester or Foster that seem vacant, ask to see references to back up their answers when they tell you a BS answer or blow you off, and a receipt from the vet on base in Okinawa to prove your pet is here. The best advice I got is to "be assertive, not aggressive."

I do not mean to say housing in Okinawa is unaccommodating or ridiculous, I just want to share my experience and let you draw your own conclusions.

I also know that for many of you coming, this won't be a problem. I also have no qualms about any housing (towers, duplexes, houses, multiplexes) here on Okinawa, I just have a pet and need pet-friendly housing, of course. *Also, if you're moving here and you want to get a pet in Okinawa, I suggest you put that on your housing application and get a pet as soon as you can, before your initial appointment with housing. Otherwise, you may be assigned to a non-pet-friendly place.

[Sidenote: I'm throwing this out there, COULD be wrong, but to my understanding, IPAC will ask you when your move in date is. They will determine when your TLA stops based on that. I don't think there is a lot of communication between the housing office and IPAC. So, if you refuse tier 1 housing, know that in some cases your TLA won't stop until you move in to your tier 2 or counter-offer tier 1 housing.]

Remember: "Be assertive, not aggressive."
Semper Fi!!