Resident Advocates support personnel in on-base housing

  • Published
  • By A1C Quentin Marx
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

The Resident Advocate is the voice and a solution for military members having issues with privatized housing at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

This summer, the U.S. Air Force established Resident Advocate positions across its installations in an effort to improve privatized housing customer service and quality.

“A resident advocate’s goal is to make sure that all military members are living in safe and adequate housing,” said Becky Pisle, the 28th Bomb Wing privatized housing resident advocate. “As a Resident Advocate, I am the liaison between the residents and the housing project owner. If a resident has an issue with their home and is not able to resolve the issue by working through the housing project owner and our local Military Housing Office, I can help.”

Resident advocates not only provide assistance with health safety issues, but they also provide military members with a voice to get their issues and ideas heard through the Resident Council.

“The Resident Council is comprised of representatives from the three neighborhoods - Prairie View, Rushmore Heights and Black Hills Estates,” said Pisle. “[They] propose suggestions that can improve all the communities of Ellsworth and disseminate information appropriately to their neighborhoods.”

Not only is the resident advocate another voice of the base housing community, they are also an intricate part of the Resident Council. Pisle can answer any council questions one might have and assist with bringing issues or ideas straight to council members to be addressed.

Once council members have discussed topics at hand, they present these ideas and issues to Col. David A. Doss, the 28th Bomb Wing commander, where he makes a decision based off of the desires of the Resident Council and the installation’s needs as a whole.

During these discussions, Pisle acts as a facilitator to ensure all options are being considered, and focuses on maximizing mission readiness by driving a culture which ensures military members and their families live in a safe, healthy and secure privatized housing residence.

For more information about the Resident Council or issues needing to be fixed, call (605) 219-7480, or go onto the Resident Council Facebook page.