Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has announced a series of policy changes to help military members and their families cope with rising housing, food and child care costs amid high inflation.   

  While President Joe Biden’s proposed budget for the Department of Defense includes a 4.6 percent pay increase for service members starting Jan. 1, 2023, current annual U.S. consumer inflation is 8.3 percent.   

  Many of the policy changes Austin announced will go into effect in October.  They include changes to housing allowances for active-duty service members, changes to policies regarding permanent change of station moves that service members are required to make for their deployments, and additional programs for child care and employment for military spouses.   

  “Our Service members and our families must be able to afford basic necessities.  It is a matter of fundamental economic security and a critical issue of individual readiness,” Austin said in a memo to senior Pentagon leaders and Combatant Commanders announcing the policy changes Thursday.   

  Some of the policy changes Austin is implementing came from ideas from service members themselves, and all are a “direct response” to what Austin has heard from military members and their families “over the last 20 months,” said Pentagon press secretary.  Prison.  quarterback Pat Ryder said.   

  “Over the past 20 months, the Secretary has met with service members across the country and around the world,” Ryder said.  “Today’s actions are a direct response to what the Secretary heard from our service members.  Some of these initiatives are ideas that came directly from the force and reflect its commitment to the families they sacrifice every day to serve.”   

  Austin directed an automatic increase in the basic housing allowance for active-duty service members in the 28 U.S. military housing areas that have experienced “an average increase of more than 20 percent in rental housing costs this year,” Austin said in the memo.   

  Austin also ushered in a change in the amount of time service members are eligible for temporary living expenses when they have to change station permanently or a required move for their military deployment, starting in October.  Austin increased coverage for temporary accommodation expenses from 10 days to 14 days for moves within the continental US.  The Department of Defense will now allow up to 60 days of temporary housing coverage “if a service member is located in a designated military housing area with a housing shortage,” the memo said.   

  During these moves, service members also receive severance pay.  All service members will now be paid their severance pay “automatically one month prior to their move date to anticipate out-of-pocket costs,” the memo said.  For members of the military ranks E-1 through E-6, the dislocation allowance will also increase.  This will come into effect in October.   

  Austin also asked military commissioners to “reduce prices at the register, with the goal of achieving at least a 25 percent savings on grocery bills compared to the local market,” he wrote.   

  For military service members and their families whose gross household income is below the federal poverty guideline level of 130 percent, the State Department will pay them a basic needs allowance starting in January, the memo said.   

  That allowance is “designed” to bring those service members and families “up to that level,” said Defense Department Military Compensation Director Jerry Bush.  The allowance will vary according to the needs of the family.   

  To help with “child care shortages affecting the entire country,” the Department is establishing a “minimum 50 percent employee discount for the first child” of military family members working at one of the military’s child development program facilities “for to help attract more talented staff and increase capacity,” according to the memorandum.  This new discount will take effect in October.   

  To help increase the employment of military spouses, the department will “launch a new career accelerator pilot initiative” in January “that will pair military spouses with paid private sector fellowships in a variety of career paths,” the memo said.   

  All of these measures are intended to help military families as they deal with the rising costs of inflation affecting housing, food and jobs across the country.   

  “We remain deeply committed to doing right by our military families, just as our military families remain deeply committed to their loved ones and to the Nation they all do so much to defend,” Austin said in the memo.   

  Austin will receive “regular updates” on the initiatives, according to the memo.   

  CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated which service members would automatically be paid severance pay one month before their move date.