New housing site helps users find place to call 'home'

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Ryan Conroy
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  A new Department of Defense housing website, www.HOMES.mil, is now available and serves as a replacement for the Automated Housing Referral Network.  

The website launched in December and assists DOD personnel with finding and listing rental properties near their military installation during a permanent change of station.

"The reason this was created was to assist service members PCSing around the world," said Antonio Saponaro, 31st Civil Engineer Squadron housing management system assistant supervisor. "Regardless of their branch of service or location, this empowers the service member to make smart decisions on renting a home."

HOMES.mil assists the customer by featuring search and display options as well as Google Maps with the property's location. Users can also save listings, view photos and compare up to four different properties at one time.

"For people here it means visibility of a wide range of properties to get an understanding of what's available overseas," said Saponaro. "It allows service members to get a look at what homes and surrounding areas look like here and what expectations they should have before arriving."

The housing office also monitors the website to ensure accurate, up-to-date information and suitable listings are maintained.

"This helps reduce the clutter of homes that are not available anymore," said Saponaro. "Every 30 days, listings need to be updated or they run the risk of being set to 'not visible.'"

In addition, the housing office will play a part in the property manager listing. Property managers must create an account that requires approval from the 31 CES housing office and also requires at least one listing added before the account can be approved.

How to sign up

Although the general public can access the website, only registered users can obtain listing addresses and landlord contact information.

Service members and DOD civilians may create an account in HOMES.mil using the "create account" link on the home page. Once registration is completed, the member will receive an automatic welcome email. The member can then log on and begin using the system.

For questions or concerns, call the housing office at 0434-30-2272 or DSN 632-2272.