Senator Joins Base Dignitaries for Housing Ribbon-Cutting

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Jay Barrett/KMXT photo
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Jay Barrett/KMXT photo

The new housing units at Coast Guard Base Kodiak were dedicated on Saturday. In attendance was Alaska’s senior senator, who had ushered through Congress funding for the units. Lisa Murkowski said the 20 new 3-bedroom units should help alleviate Kodiak’s crowded housing situation.

“Until you have more houses out on the market, as long as we’re continuing to have our Coast Guard men and women who need facilities off base, it puts pressure on that market,” Murkowski said. “So the more that we can provide on base for the Coast Guard families, the less pressure on the local market.”

The 10, two-unit townhouses were built in Government Hill housing, and at about $2-million each, were rather pricy.

“That is a point that we can’t argue,” Murkowski said. “But I do think that it is important that we recognize that certain quality of life issues for those who serve us, whether it is in the Coast Guard, or whether it’s Army, Air Force, Marines, recognizing that some of the quality of life issues are pretty important for an all-volunteer force right now as we think about our security.”

Murkowski said that knowing their families are taken care of at home is reassuring to service members when they’re deployed.

“We’re looking to ways to make sure that the job that they are doing is one where they don’t have to worry about whether or not the family they left behind is living in sub-standard housing, or issues as they relate to school or day care or what have you,” Murkowski said. “So it is focus on quality of life issues that we have been trying to pay attention to.”

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