Housing

Living Quarters
The first stop in finding a place to live for anyone moving to Little Rock AFB is the military Housing Referral Office at 538 Thomas Ave (two blocks away from the Fitness Center). The Housing Referral Office also operates out of The Welcome Center at 101 Arkansas Boulevard (in the base housing area). In addition to helping you find a home, the Housing Referral Office has a number of handouts for newcomers to include phonebooks, maps, utility company information, and public school information.

Housing options in and around Little Rock AFB are many, varied, and for the most part, very affordable. There is plenty of family housing on base. The off-base rental market ranges from small apartments to very large multistory homes, and there are normally plenty of new and pre-owned homes for sale.

Because you will likely be here for a few years, consider all possible options and choose carefully the one that is best for you. The Air Force has moved you to Little Rock AFB and will move you to your next duty station when you leave here, but it won't pay to move you from neighborhood to neighborhood in the local area while you are here. The one exception to this rule is if you are placed on a waiting list for on-base housing, which requires you to rent a place in the local community prior to moving on base.

Dormitories
Single Airmen in pay grades E-1 through E-4 with less than three years of service are required to report to the Consolidated Dorms Management Office in Building 723 upon arrival. As dorm space is at a premium, your rank and date of rank determine whether or not you will be assigned a room in your squadron's dorm, or sent to the military housing referral office to investigate the possibility of living in on-base family housing in an unaccompanied status or finding a place to live off-base. As a general rule, any E-1 through E-4 with less than three years of service will be assigned a dorm room. The dorms are centrally located on base and within easy walking distance of the BX, commissary, chapel and other recreational facilities.

With one exception, all of the dorms are essentially the same. They are equipped with a private room with a shared bath. Furniture in the room will include a full-size (double) bed, a dresser, an armoire suitable for holding a television and a chair. Residents can also request a desk and a recliner. Telephone and cable television service are available in the rooms should a resident elect to subscribe and pay for either service.

One dorm, Bldg. 846, is designed with pods of six rooms, each with a private bath, sharing a common kitchen and living room area. Each dorm has a dayroom with pool tables, a sofa, a large-screen television and a DVD player among other amenities. Each dormitory floor has a shared kitchen space with appliances and utensils. Washers and driers are also available.

The dining facility serving all of the dorms is the Hercules Dining Facility, located a couple of minutes walking distance from all of the dorms.

The dining facility operates on the following schedule:
Monday through Friday:
Breakfast: 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Midnight Meal: Monday through Friday: 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Saturday - Sunday 11 p.m. to midnight
Dorm residents who advance in rank and/or time in service may be authorized and/or asked to move out of the dorm into family housing or the local community to make way for more junior Airmen being assigned to Little Rock AFB. Determining who gets to move out of the dorms is done exclusively by rank and time in service.

On-Base Housing
The Landings at Little Rock staff manages the leasing and maintenance of the 1,000 family housing units located on Little Rock AFB. The types of units available on base range from half of a two-bedroom duplex to four-bedroom single-family homes. These houses, complete with all utilities except the telephone and cable TV services you have to pay for, can be had for the cost of your monthly BAH. There is no waiting for housing. Units are currently available for all pay grades.

Most of the family housing units date to when the base was built in the 1950's, though they have all been upgraded from time to time. All base housing is either new or completely renovated.

Single Airmen transferring from the dorms will be charged BAH for family housing at the single rate. You can save even more if you team up with a roommate. You'll be charged BAH at the with-dependent-rate of the highest ranking member, but you'll split the rent, so each of you will put a little extra tax-free cash in your pocket. If you decide to move into family housing, which is called The Landings at Little Rock, or at least want to investigate what is available, the military housing referral office staff will direct you to The Landings' welcome center at 101 Arkansas in the family housing area. The Landings at Little Rock staff runs the family housing units for the Air Force and is responsible for maintenance, renovations and placing personnel in the various housing units.

At the Welcome Center, The Landings leasing team will help you find a home that meets the needs of your family within your pay grade and entitlement. Once you have selected your home, the paperwork is completed, which includes filling out an allotment form and signing a lease. The allotment will be in the amount of your BAH, which is the only money you must put up to secure a family housing unit. There are no deposits or extra months of rent to be paid in advance. Paperwork complete, you may even be able to move in that same day. If you're in a real hurry to find a place to live, family housing can often accommodate you almost instantly

Check Little Rock AFB family housing availability in advance at www.littlerock.pinnaclefamilyhousing.com.

Off-Base Housing
There are literally hundreds of rental units for every budget and in almost any size imaginable within easy commuting distance of Little Rock AFB. If renting is your goal, you can even search ahead of time by going to www.ahrn.com, a single site for military members to research housing options at bases all over the world. If you haven't done so before arriving at the housing office, the military Housing Referral Office staff will be more than happy to show you your options.

Typically, renters will be required to pay the first and last month's rent and perhaps a security deposit before being allowed to move in. This can vary somewhat depending on your credit rating—the lower your credit rating, the higher the deposit is likely to be. Other factors such as whether or not you have pets will factor into what security deposit is charged. Security deposits and any overpayment of rent are generally refunded if you leave the rental in as good or better shape than it was when you moved in.

In the fall of 2011, typical rates for rental housing in the Little Rock AFB area were:
1 bedroom/1 bath apartment: $400 to $700 per month
2 bedroom/1 bath apartment: $500 to $700 per month
3 bedroom/2 bath apartment: $700 to $950 per month
2 bedroom/1 bath house or duplex: $400 to $700 per month
3 bedroom/2 bath house: $700 to $1,400 per month
4 bedroom or larger house: $1,400 to $2,400 per month
You can certainly spend more, if you wish, and you can possibly find something even cheaper, but these numbers are a good average of what is available. The other option renters have is urban/rural housing. You can live in Little Rock itself, Arkansas' largest city, located about 15 miles from the base, or you can live in the country. Rental units with acreage are available. If you wish to rent, you will find plenty of options.

Buying a Home
As with rentals, the options are many and varied, and central Arkansas is not a high-priced housing market. Your BAH will likely make the payments on a much nicer house than it is possible to purchase near bases in other parts of the country. You must have a regular income and good job security -- being in the Air Force takes care of that -- and your credit rating must be solid.

Again, the housing office on base is the place to start if you're thinking of buying a home. They can help you out with a list of real estate agents, for-sale listings online and in the local newspapers, and information about the various communities near the base.

Schools
Bldg. 1255 • (501) 987-8941
School.Liaison@littlerock.af.mil
If you have children, school choice will be a big concern for your family. All parents research schools and want to find the best fit for their children. Every state has different requirements for schools and Little Rock AFB has a school liaison officer available to individually assist you with any school questions.

Little Rock AFB housing, Jacksonville and portions of Sherwood are part of Pulaski Special School District. Other school districts where military students attend are North Little Rock, Cabot, Vilonia, Beebe and Little Rock. There are transfers available across district lines, but a specific set of criteria apply. Specialty magnet and charter schools are available to attend at no cost. Private and parochial schools are also in the base area. A new charter school, "Flightline Academy" is offered at Little Rock Air Force Base for grades 5 through 8.

Before you pick a place to live, investigate the schools and see if they are right for your children. Maps with specific streets are on the district websites and it is very important before renting or purchasing a home that parents call the school district office with the exact address and verify the school assignment. Here's a list of most of the school districts in the area to help you get started:

Beebe School District
(501) 882-5463
http://badger.k12.ar.us/

Cabot Public School District
(501) 843-3363
http://cabot.k12.ar.us

Lighthouse Academies of Arkansas
501) 985-1200
www.lighthouse-academies.org

Little Rock School District
(501) 447-1000
www.lrsd.org

North Little Rock School District
(501) 771-8000
www.nlrsd.k12.ar.us

Pulaski County Special School District
(501) 490-2000
www.pcssd.org

Vilonia Public Schools
(501) 796-2113
http://viloniaschools.k12.ar.us

For more information on area schools, please contact the School Liaison Officer at (501) 987-8941 or School.Liaison@littlerock.af.mil.

Another great resource for investigating the quality of schools anywhere in the nation and comparing the performance of various schools is www.greatschools.net. Visit this site, work your way down to Arkansas, put in appropriate zip codes for the communities you are considering and you will be able to judge the performance of as many schools as you care to research.