Q: How is my name placed on the waiting list?

A: You will be placed on the primary housing waiting list according to your pay grade category (E1-E6, E7-E9, W1-O3, or O4-O5) and the number of bedrooms you qualify for. For example, if you are an E5 with two children, you will be placed on the Junior Enlisted three bedroom housing waiting list.

Field Grade Officers (O4-O5) and Senior Enlisted (E7-E9) personnel are entitled to three bedrooms as a minimum. Chief Warrant Officers (W1-W4), Limited Duty Officers (LDO) and those who received their commissions via other programs; e.g., Enlisted Commissioning Program, and who had a minimum of nine years enlisted active service at the time of commissioning (O1E-O3E), are eligible for assignment to a three bedroom unit, as a minimum.

You may waive one bedroom within 30 days of reporting to the Housing Services Center. E7 to E9 and O4 and above cannot waive their bedroom minimum.

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Q: How is my control date established?

A: Your control date for placement on the waiting list is normally your date of detachment from the previous permanent duty station. For example, if you detached from your previous permanent duty station 1 April 20XX, you will be placed on the waiting list with the control date of 1 April 20XX, provided you come to the Housing Services Center within 30 days of reporting to your command.

If two or more sponsors on the same waiting list have the same control date, placement on the list will be based on seniority.

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Q: How come my name keeps going down on the list?

A: You should remember that even though you have been placed on the appropriate waiting list, there is a possibility that you might be displaced by new arrivals who detached from their last permanent duty station before you did. If you are already in the Freeze Zone, you cannot be displaced except by Key and Essential Personnel.

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Q: Can I request assignment to Yokosuka housing only?

A: All incoming personnel are placed on the primary waiting list. A housing assignment is made in sequence of personnel on the appropriate waiting list. If the prospective housing unit available is not a housing unit you prefer, you do have the option to decline one housing offer. At that time, you may request a desired location/type of quarters. A notation will be made on your application and on the waiting list to reflect your choice of housing. You will retain your original control date. However, please be advised that you lose the entitlement to a courtesy move. Any future move into quarters will be at your expense.

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Q: What happens if I placed my name on the waiting list for one bedroom less than I'm authorized?

A: If you have requested and are assigned one bedroom less than you are authorized, you will not be authorized to relocate to another larger unit at a later date, unless you increase your family size by an additional member.

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Q: How can I accept or decline government quarters while I'm deployed?

A: There are two ways to accept or decline housing offers:

1. Give your spouse or a friend Power of Attorney before deploying and make sure the Housing Services Center has the designated person's phone number and they know the unit of your choice. Power of Attorney can be done at the Naval Legal Services Office.

2. Ask the Housing Services Center to send a message to you if your spouse is not here. You will have 24 working hours to respond to this message.

If you would like your name to be placed on the waiting list "on hold", please give the Housing Services Center a memo stating so before you deploy.

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Q: My family will arrive in Yokosuka while I'm deployed. What do I have to do as far as housing?

A: There are things you need to do before you leave on deployment:

1. Ensure your spouse has a current Power of Attorney and has dependents entry approval or non-concurrent travel approval.

2. Inform the Housing Services Center of your family's expected arrival date.

3. Make a room reservation for your family at the Navy Lodge or other temporary lodging if base lodging is not available.

Check to find out how long your family will be entitled to receive Temporary Lodging Allowance (TLA). TLA starts on your arrival date and lasts for 30 days. An additional 30 days is usually granted if necessary. You may have to request a TLA extension, which may or may not be approved.

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Q: When should I notify housing of my PCS move?

A: Sponsor/residents are required to submit an Intent to Vacate form to the appropriate Housing Services Center or the applicable site housing management office a minimum of 30 days prior to the estimated vacate date, but preferably 60 days in advance, unless in receipt of short notification orders.

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Q: A friend of mine told me that I could come to Yokosuka ahead of my family, get checked into my Command, and put in my housing application. Once you have an on-base unit for me, I will then be able to send for my family and move them directly into housing. Is this true?

A: In a few rare cases this might happen – but in the majority of cases this will not happen. There are two important criteria that must be met before we actually offer you government housing:

1. The regulations require that to be eligible for family housing you must have “command sponsored” accompanying dependents who will reside with you for nine consecutive months or more each year.

2. You cannot be offered housing until 30-days prior to their arrival as noted on the flight itinerary provided to the Housing Services Center.

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Q: I am an O-2 with a wife and no kids and want to live on Yokosuka Base in one of the high rises. I received an email from a Yokosuka Housing Counselor who told me that there are vacancies in my category for 2 bedroom units in the towers. Can I come to Japan earlier than my wife and put my name on the list for one of those units? My wife is going to spend 3 weeks with her parents before joining me in Yokosuka.

A: You would be one of the rare cases where you might be able to move in right away. Housing will take your application; your spouse’s dependent entry paperwork; command sponsorship; and flight itinerary. If it is within 30-days of her arrival you will be placed on a generic wait list and offered a unit. If the unit is one that you do not want to accept, you have the option of one-turn down. Then, you can place your name on the preference list of your choice. In this case the Company Grade 2-bedroom Yokosuka Tower list. If there is no one on the list you will be number one. If there is a unit available, you will be offered one. The key here is that your spouse will be arriving within 30-days.

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Q: Someone told me that upon arrival in Yokosuka I will automatically get 60 days of Temporary Lodging Allowance (TLA) and extensions are pretty easy to get if it looks like you might be offered a place on Base within 3 or 4 months.

A: WRONG! The COMNAVFORJAPAN 7220.1 (Series) covers TLA entitlements and it should be read in its entirety. The only time you will be authorized to sit in the Navy Lodge or BOQ collecting TLA and NOT be actively searching for a place to live out in town is when housing has informed you that a government unit may be offered to you within 60-days of your arrival.

In most other cases you will be expected to actively search for off-base housing even if it appears you may be offered on-base housing in 3 or 4 months. The goal is to get you off of TLA as soon as possible and collecting Overseas Housing Allowance (OHA).

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Q: I was told that I will be offered the first available unit based upon my entitlement. I was also told that it is always at the Ikego or Negishi housing sites. I don’t want either site, I want housing on Yokosuka Base. My friend also said that if I turn down housing at Ikego or Negishi and put my name on the Yokosuka wait list I could lose my TLA and might have to pay for my own move onto Yokosuka. Is that true?

A: Yes. Current policy states that if you turn down adequate quarters, your TLA will stop in 30-days and you will not be provided a government funded move from the economy when you are eventually offered a unit from your preferred wait list.

For example: You are a CPO with a spouse, 2 children, and a dog entitled to and eligible for a 3-bedroom unit. Your first offer is to an Ikego 3-bedroom tower which you decline. You put your name on the Yokosuka Senior Enlisted, 3-bedroom Yokosuka Townhouse waitlist. Your counselor tells you to expect to wait at least eight months before you will be offered a unit. 30-days from the date you turned down the offer to Ikego housing – your TLA will expire. You will have to find a place in town ASAP, because after TLA expires on the 30th day. You will live out in town until a government unit becomes available, or, if you decide to stay in town for your entire tour. In this example, because you turned down an adequate unit – you will have to pay for your own move from the economy into government quarters if and when you accept.

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Q: Freeze Zone/Key and Essential personnel:

A: The top 10 percent of sponsors on each waiting list are underlined and indicated as "in the Freeze Zone." Once you attain Freeze Zone status, you cannot be displaced by new arrivals or by sponsors transferring from another waiting list. There are exceptions, however, Ship Commanding Officers and certain Command Master Chiefs will go to the top of their respective waiting lists due to their designation as "Key and Essential" personnel.