Camp Pendleton Housing Crunch Is Less Severe

Housing has been a perennial headache for the military in San Diego but the problem is far less severe for Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton. That’s because Camp Pendleton has a vital feature all but missing at military installations located in crowded San Diego--lots of wide-open, vacant land.

In recent decades, the Marine Corps has built more than 4,500 family housing units for just about everyone, from the commanding general on down to the lowliest private. In addition, the base’s 315 barracks house more than 20,000 Marines.

Despite that, there remains something of a housing crunch on the 196-square-mile base, albeit far less pressing than problems in San Diego and at the Marine Corps base at El Toro in Orange County.

Not Much Choice

Marines with families who are newly assigned to the base typically have to wait a year to 18 months before gaining on-base housing. In the meantime, they must find housing in Oceanside, Vista or one of the other nearby communities.

“When someone first arrives with a family, they don’t have much choice but to look for something in town,” said base spokesman Gunnery Sgt. Stan Pederson.

To help deal with housing problems, the base offers a rental referral service and has 40 units of “hostess housing” where new arrivals can stay for up to 30 days while looking for off-base housing. Pederson said most arriving Marines are advised to put their families up with relatives while they hunt for a new home.

Many Marines prefer to live off base. Of the 13,000 renting houses and apartments in the surrounding communities, only about 2,800 have applied for on-base housing, Pederson said. Married Marines are given a housing allowance based on their rank.

“A lot of people I talk to like base housing, but, then again, there are other ones who feel that there are too many regulations involved with living on base, and they don’t want to hassle with that,” Pederson said. “It’s up to each individual.”

Because of the high cost of housing on the West Coast, commanders at Camp Pendleton have been forced to boost the number of of on-base housing units, primarily for the growing percentage of low-ranking married Marines who have difficulty affording off-base rentals.

Since 1980, nearly 1,400 units have been built on Camp Pendleton, and Marine commanders have outlined an ambitious five-year development program that could yield an additional 2,200 units by 1992. About 600 units are expected to receive funding to be built in the next two years. Most of the units are duplexes and fourplexes, although some single-family homes have been built, Pederson said.

Currently, there is no off-base housing operated by Camp Pendleton. Last year, the new, 632-unit Serra Mesa housing complex was completed on base, allowing the Marines to pull out of the problem-plagued Sterling Homes project in Oceanside.

Known throughout the Corps for its paper-thin walls and world-class cockroaches, Sterling Homes was initially built as temporary housing for construction workers who helped build Camp Pendleton at the height of World War II. The housing project was never abandoned, however, and through the years became an embarrassment for the Corps.

Finally, in 1985, the Marine Corps agreed to a unique swap that allowed a private developer to build the Serra Mesa project and then use the Sterling Homes site for a $50-million commercial and residential project. Sterling Homes is slated to be demolished this year.