Morning Read: Fort Drum needs more than 1,000 new homes

The Watertown Daily Times is reporting this morning that the Army has given the green light to construction of 161 new homes in the Crescent Woods neighborhood.

But the newspaper also notes that the base faces a major housing crunch as more soldiers rotate home from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Of the 19,000 10th Mountain Division soldiers assigned to the base, all are expected to be here in summer 2014. Right now, housing officials project the post and surrounding community will be short 1,035 homes and apartments when all soldiers are back from deployment.

The new homes built under this latest project will be four- and five-bedroom units, designed to be rented to groups of lower-ranked enlisted soldiers living without families.

The article gives a good update on how far Fort Drum and the Watertown community have to do before the soldiers’ housing needs are met.

Tags: economy