RENT POLICY FOR QUARTERS SUPPLIED TO FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89-01076R000100100007-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 28, 2001
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: June 3, 1952
• Content Type: REGULATION

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EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
BUREAU OF THE BUDGET
WASHINGTON 25, D. C.
Jesse 3, 1952 CIRCi . NO. L-45
Revised
TO THE HEADS OF ZXBM gB DBPIRTIITS A ESTABLISHIMITS
SUBJECT: Rent policy for quarters supplied to Federal employees
This revision of Circular No. A-1145 replaces and rescinds Circular
No. A-45, dated July 9, 1951. The principal changes are as follwss
Paragraph 2 -- Trailer spaces are removed trots the definition of
quarters.
Paragraph 4b(3) -- Adjustments are permitted when a portion of the
quarters is used for office space or for the general convenience of
the public.
Paragraph 4b(6) -- It is and, clear that rents for temporary Fed-
eral housing are to be based on comparison with permanent private
housing with appropriate adjustments.
Paragraph 4b (7) -- Wept for the Panama Canal Zone, other methods
may be substituted for the principle of equivalence in the terri-
tories and possessions.
Paragraph 4c -- The rental charge for rooms may combine shelter
rent and utilities charges with oat distinction.
Paragraph 5a -- Instructions have been added pertaining to use of
registration and petitioning procedures prescribed by rent stabili-
sation regulations.
1. Phi one. The purpose of this Circular is to establish the prin-
ciples a s se the procures by which agencies of the Federal
Government set and administer rents and service charges for the quarters
supplied to sasployass.
2. Definition. The tern, "quarters," as used in is Circular in-
eludes, with collaring exception, all hansing supplied, under speci-
fic Government direction, as an incidental service in sspport of Govern-
seat programs. It excludes horsing furnished to Ambers of the unitormed
services assigned public quarters nailer 37 D.S.C. 252 (but it includes
facilities ochsgxied by such personnel on a rental basis under 37 O.S.C.
]11a). It includes housing owned or leased by the Government as well as
housing supplied by oentract between the Gvvernmsnt and private firms.
It includes housing not only for direct Goversomat sopley ss but also
for contractors, contractors # ewes and all other persona whose
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housing is essential to the performance of a Government activity.
Finally, it includes housekeeping and nonhous ekeeping units (including
trailers), furnished and unfurnished, located either within the conti-
nental United States, or in U. Sr territories and possessions.
3. Relevant statute . Section 3 of the Act of March 5, 1928
(5 U.S.C. a authorises the Government to provide quarters for its
employees: where the conditions of employment so require, but stipu-
lates that the employees so provided shall be charged, as rent, the
'reasonable value" of these quarters.
The Comptroller General has rendered an opinion to this same effects
"The basis for computing the rate of rental to be
charged Government employees furnished quarters by
the Government is not the original investment of
the Government in the building occupied by the em-
ployees, nor necessarily the present investment of
the Goverment in the building, but the reasonable
value of the quarters to the employees during the
particular period and in the particular locality
where situated." (Syllabus, 5 Comp. Gen. 236)
}
The Act of draw 20, 1874 (5 U.S?C. 71) nab" it clear that compen-
sation is not to be supplemented through the distortion of rent schedules,
"No civil officer of the Government shall receive any
compensation or perquisites, directly or indirectly, from
the Treasury or property of the United States beyond his
salary or compensation ailmed by laws . , ."
4. Pxciplese
a. Basic rent principles Rents should be set at levels similar to
v'a g f'i comparable private housing in the sane
areas
b. Qualif .-. considerations: There are a number of cases in which
the principle of equlvalance with private rents needs further
explanation, or in which it may be modified.
(1)
In some cases the Government supplies quarters to its em-
ployees in isolated locations inhere no private rental
housing is available in the vicinity for purposes of
comparison. In this situation, the nearest representative
year-round private conaunity should be used as a base,
with a reasonable adjustment to off set the wwsual trans-
portation costs incurred by residents at the station (due
(No. A-45)
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to the distance fr public tr'ansportation, sboppings edu-
cational, medical and social centers, etc.). No attempt
should be made to compensate, through the station rent
structure,, for the intangible disadvantages of isolation.
(2) Wherever Government quarters are located in areas under
Federal rent control and are not exempted or decontrolled
by the Housing and Rent Act of 1947 as amended (50 APP.:
H.S.C. 1894), or the regulatiorz issued thereunder, or by
subsequent statute,, the rent charges should not exceed the
rents established for comparable private housing in the
same area under that statute.
(3) Some Govern nt officers provided with quarters by the Gov-
erment, are frequently required to use a portion of their
quarters for the purpose of accommodating official visitors,
for office space,, or for the general convenience of the
public. In calculating the private rental market value of
this housing to the employee, recognition may be made of
these official demands upon a portion of his space or im-
position upon his privacy. In each nuch case the agency
must make a specific determination that the cond.td..ona
described above exist.
(4) At some Government stations, particularjy the smaller ones,
a new employee will. not be able to move into a house of
the same size and quality that he would select in a private
cameunjty. sere he is forced to accept size or quality in
excess of his normal preferences, the housing will not
have the same "reasonable value" to him that it would have to
others. Therefore, a special adjustment may be made in
exceptional cases of this kind so that, as a general rule,
the rent (excluding utilities) charged an employee will
not exceed 20% of hiE gross salary (pay and allowances).
(5) It there appears to be an excessive differential in the
private market between rents for furnished and unfurnished
housing, the agency may use the comparable rents on un-
furnished private units and adjust these, where appropriate,
by a reasonable charge for furnishings.
~() Rents for temporary Federal housing 1. be based on com-
parivon with permanent private housing, and adjustments in
the rents may be made to reflect lower standards of ameni-
ties which may exist in the temporary Federal housing.
(7) Except for the Panama Canal Zone, the heads of agencie s
may substitute for the principle of equivalence such other
(No. A-145)
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methods as will conform to the Act of June 20, 1871 (5
U.S.C. 71) and other statutes and Comptroller General de-
cisions thereunder in establishing rents for housing in
the territories and possessions. Rents in the Panama
Canal Zone will be based on comparable housing of the
Panama Canal Company.
c. Utilities rincipllee: As a further extension of the principle
o equivalence w with private housing practice, Government charges
to Government employees for utilities (heat, electricity, gasp
water, ice? telephone, etc.) should be set by cmparison with
local domestic rates for similar services and should be clearly
identified and distinguished from charges for rent. However,
in establishing rental rates for rows, the room rent may com-
bine shelter rent and utilities without distinction.
5. Procedures. In order to insure effective application of the
foregoing principl;s, appraisals of Goverment quarters and utility serv-
ices and their comparison with private facilities should be thoroughly
impartial] the procedure for setting rents and service charges should be
formalized and recorded] and the appraisal should be repeated often
enough to reflect important fluctuations in the private markete
a. Initial a raisals: To help assure impartial appraisals, the
agency should, wherever possible, obtain the assistance of
private citizens with an extensive knowledge of local real
estate conditions. In no event should the appraisal be made
by residents in the housing under consideration. In situa-
tions where several different Federal agencies supply housing
in the same general area, an interagency appraisal committee
may be set up to mate recommendations on both rents and utility
rags, thugs promoting a consistent local pattern. Where appro-
priate, advice in majdAg rent determinations may be requested
from the Regional Representative of the Housing and Home Finance
Administrator in the area inhere the housing is located. In
cases where substantial increases in rents are recommended, the
agency may make the adjustment in gradual steps over a period
up to twelve months. Wherever the quarters are located in
areas under Federal rent control,, the establishment of rents
according to the basic rent principle will require consultation
with the rent stabilisation officials in the local area, and
the use - such registration and petitioning procedures as may
be press bed by the stabilization regulations.,
Whatever the procedure used, a full record of the proceed-
ings, including the findings and recoaaaendatione of the ap-
praisal cosenittee, consultant, or appropriate officer, should
be kept locally by the agency concerned. In all cases where an
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exception to the rule of equivalence with private rents is con-
sidered necessary (according to the guides in paragraphs !tb(l),
(3), (It), and (5)), a report of the rent determined and the
reasons for the determination should be made promptly to the
Bureau of the Budget. Opportunity for systematic consideration
of appeals from rent determinations should be provided.
b. Re raisalss To make sure that the rent and service charges
are kept up to date, rate schedules should be reappraised at
least once every three years.
FREDERICK J. T AWfON
Director
(No. A-45)
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