Washington, D.C. -- Congressman Neil Abercrombie says the completion of a Forest City project on Thursday (August 9, 2007) in Honolulu’s Salt Lake area demonstrates how legislation he wrote nearly a decade ago to privatize military housing construction is paying huge dividends for Hawaii’s economy and the U.S. military.

“One of the most rewarding aspects of public service is to see ideas and issues you’ve worked on actually come to fruition and make a difference in people’s lives,” said Abercrombie, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces which oversees the budgets of the Air Force and Army. “The completion of Radford Terrace is one part of a 50-year project that involves the construction, renovation, maintenance and management of nearly 16,000 rental homes by Forest City and Actus Lend Lease for military families living on bases across Hawaii.

During a ceremony scheduled at Radford Terrace from 10 to 11 A.M., Thursday, August 9, 2007, Forest City Military Communities Hawaii will officially celebrate the successful completion of its Radford Terrace project for the Navy to make affordable, quality, private housing available to service members and their families in Hawaii. The project began in May 2004 and was completed last month.

“The legislation that made this possible has brought continuity and stability in the construction industry and long-term economic prosperity in this important segment of Hawaii’s economy. In fact, the industry is in need of more workers because of the building occurring around the island,” said Abercrombie.

“Without the legislation, we may have never seen the aging inventory of military housing improve because it would have had to compete—and lose—to the military’s other pressing needs, such as aircraft carriers, jetfighters, and other weaponry.”

The legislation made the construction projects attractive investments because the companies would build, maintain, and manage the rental houses. The private investments would pay for the construction and eliminate the need for the military to go through the annual appropriations process in Congress. To pay for the housing, military residents pay rents for the new housing through their basic monthly housing allowances.

“This plan has resulted in more quality family housing on bases across the country much sooner and at great savings to taxpayers. The new military housing will also help to loosen up a tight rental housing market because more and more military families will be living on bases, freeing up more inventory in the civilian rental market,” Abercrombie added.

A recent Pacific Business News (July 6, 2007) article highlighted the partnership between the U.S. government and the private sector to build the housing and reported that the 50-year agreement is insulating construction contractors from any economic recession. “Hawaii’s construction industry is profiting from one of the most robust economic periods in years, and although home construction has slowed, commercial building and military housing projects will continue to support thousands of jobs well into the next decade,” the article reported, largely due to two large public-private partnerships between Forest City Hawaii and Actus Lend Lease-Hawaii and the local military community.

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