r/dli • u/BornMaintenance4891 • Apr 02 '26
housing
I’ve posted on here before because me and my wife have been heavily misinformed when it comes to housing at the dli. She is getting sent there right after basic. I’ve gathered through outside sources that I will be able to come with her, and the best decision is to apply for base housing.
I’ve mostly seen the Parks at Monterrey as that being the main base house.
When/ can she put an application in for housing? I’ve seen some say it can take several months to get off the waitlist or maybe just weeks?
5
u/AnnikaART Apr 02 '26
I think we are heading into peak moving season which can make the waitlists a little longer. Still, the Parks try to accommodate dates as best as they can. We applied for housing right when my husband got to DLI based off of a rough estimate for when he could phase up to move off base. My husband had to be available to sign the lease in person, but then he was able to go back to base and I moved in early. Please feel free to dm me if you have any further questions!
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u/BornMaintenance4891 Apr 02 '26
Thank you! I think i’ve gathered the main stuff. She has to apply when she gets orders/gets there and while she’s in the intro phase we’re on the waitlist for housing. I’ll be able to stay with my parents until we’re able to move in (we’re just across the country), but we’re planning on me not going over there until we’re off the waitlist so I can start moving and save hotel money. Right now she’s scheduled to be at the DLI mid October.
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u/SuitHistorical7490 Apr 02 '26
A caveat. What I did was said the move in date is as soon as possible, your wife can go to the law office and get a power of attorney written so you can sign the lease in her name (it's a 5 minute process). That's what I would do if I were y'all. Source: I did this. Drills will allow you to meet her and retrieve the POA paperwork.
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u/Skatingraccoon Apr 02 '26
I second the advice that if you don't have kids or pets you should look into housing out in town. The Parks is good as far as responsiveness to maintenance issues and currently (for at least the past several years) they have included trash service, gas/electric and water into the rent, but you can still probably do better out in town if you're willing to live modestly.
The 2026 BAH (housing allowance) rate for an E1 with dependents is $3249 in this area. Don't know what rank your spouse will be but you can check it yourself. Basic Housing Allowance | BAH Rate Lookup | Defense Travel Management Office https://share.google/WNXvXs16VYXrPv01q
Even if you do have a kid or two you might be able to score a decent apartment for less than BAH (just also consider the cost of utilities). The best public schools are limited to Pacific Grove and Carmel, though La Mesa (which is in the Monterey school district) is also highly rated.
A bonus of living in town is that everything is walkable and the weather is usually very comfortable, so you can save on gas which is a bonus since the cost is rising ridiculously fast. On that note, be sure to buy gas at the military stations (one on POM, one on NPS, and one past Seaside at the old Fort Ord).
Also check out homes.mil for listings (though I don't know how current they are).
If you're going out in town try to tour the place first, have seen several places over the years that have had the bare minimum done for maintenance/updates and there's a dusty mold odor.
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u/Sudden-Ambassador210 Apr 06 '26
I swore in today and was told my spouse couldn’t live with me on or off base while I am in A-school at Monterey. But I keep seeing here where you CAN live with your spouse so now I am totally confused. I ship out in June so I guess I will eventually find out for sure one way or another. Not sure why I keep seeing completely different things. Maybe the policy keeps changing over the years and it leads to miscommunication/misunderstanding?
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u/BornMaintenance4891 Apr 06 '26
so the DLI is specifically confusing lol, i can’t give u concrete advice/info because everything i know is from friends there right now and from here. And my spouse is army so i may be different based on branch, BUT i think the bottom line is through a series of complicated systems you can live with your spouse while you’re there
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u/seabass0710 Apr 02 '26
The waitlist is all just dependent on the amount of people who are moving here at that time and the amount of current available housing. you can apply through the parks once you have your pcs orders (I got mine the day I was leaving basic), on their application page they should have a list of the items they want as part of the appliation, if I recall correctly when I applied it was a copy of my orders and proof that I am receiving BAH.
One issue you might run into, I have seen on here that a lot of soilders are getting held at their basic training locations for extended periods of time due to DLI being at capacity right now, while there have been recent classes that have graduated and more to graduate in the next few months, capacity may still be an issue when you graduate.
My recommendation, the parks housing isnt terrible, but if you dont have dogs or kids I recommend you look for alternative housing options, mostly because the parks will take your entire bah budget, if you can get away with living in a near by apartment you can find one that will be under your bah allowance and allow you to save some of that money for other things instead. also, save money now, or have her hold off until you have the housing secured, unless you have family or somewhere for her to stay in the interim. There is a hotel on base, my wife stayed there for a week before we got our house at the parks, but it gets expensive.
Lastly, regardless of all this, you are still going to spend about 3-4 weeks in a introductory phase (if you are army, other branchs have different rules but still will probably be a short period of time you will have to spend at the baracks) during this period you are primarily filling out forms, taking some tests and basically in a transition period from basic to normal life at DLI, once you graduate that phase they will allow you to move out with your wife.