A bipartisan Senate bill would require a thorough DoD review of military family relocation support services, a look at how these programs are faring in high-cost areas, and a new product designed to make the programs easier for families to find.

The Relocation Assistance for Military Families Act “would ensure the DoD has well-known, helpful programs to help military families in their transition,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who introduced the legislation May 9 alongside Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), in a press release announcing the bill.

MOAA supports the legislation, which tackles an all-too-common challenge for military families and would help make sense of an array of programs that may be underfunded, underpublicized, or simply unproductive.

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Among other improvements, the bill would:

• Mandate an “in-depth evaluation” of relocation assistance by DoD to determine which programs are used the most and why, what access barriers prevent some families from tapping these resources, and how to overcome those barriers.
  
  
• Require a special assessment for high-cost areas, to determine whether programs are successful in those areas and whether local partnerships and housing supplies meet the needs of military families.
  
  
• Require DoD to publish a “best practices guide” to help families find these DoD programs as well as those offered by local communities.

The assessments would include input from a range of stakeholders, to include recently relocated military families; family support groups; state and local officials; and installation commanders.

If implemented, the legislation would “strengthen relocation assistance programs and ensure they maximally benefit our heroic servicemembers and their families,” Ossoff said in the release.

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Find more MOAA-supported legislation, as well as ways to contact your lawmakers and more details on MOAA legislative priorities, at MOAA’s Legislative Action Center.