Kerry Campaigns for Military Housing at Closed El Toro Base

The El Toro Marine base may be closed, but nearly 1,000 housing units at the former airfield have sprung back to life as campaign fodder.

Democratic presidential contender Sen. John F. Kerry released a statement Sunday urging President Bush to reopen the homes at El Toro to thousands of military families in Orange and San Diego counties that are struggling with high rents for private housing. The base closed in July 1999.

“I believe that El Toro should be opened for the military families who need housing,” Kerry said in the statement, released within days of his proposed “bill of rights” for active-duty military, retirees and their families.

“For too long, the needs of these families have been ignored.”

Kerry became aware of the military housing crunch in Southern California through complaints by troops and their families, said Laura Capps, his West Coast campaign spokeswoman.

Democrat Mike Byron, running for Congress against incumbent Darrell Issa (R-Carlsbad) in northern San Diego County, also seized on the issue. Byron placed newspaper ads urging the Navy to renovate and open the El Toro housing, located in a separate neighborhood northeast of the runways.

Issa does not advocate a similar position but in the past has proposed swapping El Toro land with a developer who would build houses at Camp Pendleton.

Navy officials couldn’t be reached for comment.

They have long maintained, however, that the Navy cannot afford renovating the military housing, which they estimate at $192 million.

Preserving the military housing also would disrupt the Navy’s plan to auction 3,700 acres of the base later this year. Most of the land is to be set aside by Irvine for public and private park space.

Portions, including the housing area, will be sold to developers to pay for construction of roads and utility lines and cover other park costs. Setting aside the military housing would reduce the value of that development deal.

A small but vocal group of veterans and military families has lobbied local and federal officials to keep some of the former base available for military needs.

The demand for affordable housing far outweighs the Navy’s need for a sale, said activist Ken Lee, who also has urged the military to reopen the base commissary.

Lee’s group disputed the Navy’s renovation cost estimate, saying a similar project to revamp houses at Camp Pendleton cost less than $25 million.

The statement of support from the Kerry campaign is the most political attention the effort has received.

“We brought the facts to them, and they took it and ran with it,” Lee said.

Tonia Turner, one of the military spouses who lobbied for Kerry’s help, is familiar with the housing crunch. Her family -- including husband Billy, an Army officer, and three sons ages 17, 6 and 22 months -- has been crammed into a two-bedroom apartment at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. They’ve been on a waiting list for a four-bedroom home on base for two years.

“A lot of military families have it worse off than we do,” Turner said.

“There are families who can’t get base housing and they’re living off credit cards to make rent. No one seems to care about military families who don’t have adequate places to live.”

There are about 4,000 active-duty military families in Orange County; about 1,100 Camp Pendleton families are on a base housing waiting list, Lee said.