Guam’s housing crisis is back in the spotlight, this time at the Guam Legislature, where one senator says a federal policy is helping drive up rent and pushing local families off-island. The call for reform comes as concerns grow over homelessness, including the recent encampment on Alupang Island, and as the cost of inaction becomes harder to ignore.

On Alupang Island, a growing homeless encampment has become an unmistakable symbol of the island’s housing crisis. In an interview with KUAM earlier this week about the encampment, Tamuning-Tumon-Harmon Mayor Louise Rivera says more working families priced out of the rental market are slipping into homelessness.

"You cannot compare our salary to what the military is offering for their housing allowance. I’m also seeing that a lot of landlords are fixing up their place so that it accommodates the high allowance that the military offers," she said. "And so how about our own local people and the people of Guam?"

Now, a new resolution at the Guam Legislature aims at what some call the root cause of Guam’s soaring rent. Senator Wil Parkinson introduced Resolution 117-38, urging Congress and the Department of War to overhaul how military housing allowances are handled on Guam. He says the current system, the Overseas Housing Allowance is distorting the rental market.

A 2013 Navy-commissioned study backs that claim. The Center for Naval Analyses found that OHA reimburses service members “dollar-for-dollar” for rent, up to high caps based on rank, removing any incentive to bargain. And some landlords admit they charge military tenants far more for the exact same units.

Two-bedroom apartments now commonly exceed $2,000 a month. More than half of Guam households are now considered "housing-cost burdened," meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent.

Resolution 117 calls for Guam to move to the Basic Allowance for Housing, the system used in all 50 states. Instead of unlimited reimbursement, bah gives service members a flat rate based on local rental prices. If they find cheaper housing, they keep the savings.

The CNA study projected that switching to BAH could reduce defense housing costs by around 6%, while easing pressure on Guam’s market.