Canada’s military will start phasing out old housing benefit

globalnews.ca:

The Canadian Armed Forces has created a new program to gradually phase out its old housing benefit after hearing feedback from military members who were set to lose the payments.

The military announced plans in March to create a new housing allowance called the Canadian Force Housing Differential, which came into effect on July 1.

The program is based on a member’s salary, unlike the post-living differential, which was aimed at offsetting the cost of living in particularly expensive communities. Those rates had been frozen since 2009, even as the cost of housing has soared.

It was estimated the change would make around 28,000 people eligible for the new allowance, or roughly 6,300 more than the previous program covered.

But the military also estimated around 7,700 members would become ineligible and thousands of others would see their monthly payments reduced. Officials said that would result in a net savings of $30 million a year, bringing the program back within its budget at around $150 million.

In an update emailed to Armed Forces members last Thursday, the director general of compensation and benefits said feedback on the change had been heard and the Treasury Board has approved the creation of a provisional policy to phase out the payments.

Brig.-Gen. Virginia Tattersall said those who would have seen their monthly housing benefit decrease will be eligible, and will receive decreasing payments until July 2026.

“Your individual entitlement will cease prior to that time if you are posted to a new location, or if your (provisional post-living differential) calculation amounts to a negative value,” Tattersall wrote in the memo, noting that individual circumstances, including promotions, will be taken into account.

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