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Friday, November 13, 2009
Off-Base Housing Growing Scarce
By Eric Butler
The Portales News-Tribune
PORTALES — If anyone asks “What's the 801?” it doesn't have anything to do with an area code or an information service but it does have to do with running out of room.
For more than 250 families in the Clovis and Portales area, the number represents housing that Cannon Air Force Base personnel have access to in the neighboring communities. It's a chance to live in a neighborhood full of military families yet away from the base itself. But the numbers are starting to run low for that kind of accommodation.
“It is currently projected that the 801 housing areas in Clovis and Portales will reach 100 percent occupancy by March 2010,” said Tim Farmer, chief of the Capital Asset Management Flight at Cannon.
Cannon was threatened with closure earlier in 2006 but was saved when it became the new home for the 27th Special Operations Wing, which continues to expand its presence there. The base population is expected to grow to more than 4,000 next year.
In Clovis, the housing designated as an 801 area is on the northeast side of town near Mesa Elementary. For those seeking a house in that part of Clovis, out of 200 total homes, 43 are currently available. Portales has more units available and a higher ratio of vacant homes. The 801 housing for Portales is located on the south side of town — near football, soccer and baseball fields of Eastern New Mexico University. Out of 150 houses in Portales, 51 are still available.
Getting into 801 housing, for Cannon personnel, means going through the base's housing office rather than dealing with a local real estate agent.
Most Clovis and Portales Realtors, however, have military clients weighing their options: Whether to apply for an 801 home at less expense or find a house in the regular market.
“We have some that are torn about whether to go with the base housing or whether to purchase,” said Realtor Rebecca Lusk of Re/Max in Clovis, giving her opinion of the 801 offerings. “A lot of that depends on whether they have a house in another market that they have to sell first.”
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