Big Sky Resident Council gives privatized housing residents a voice

  • Published
  • By Michael Ammons
  • 341st Missile Wing Privatized Housing Resident Advocate

Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”  

One of the ways Malmstrom is working to bring Airmen and families in privatized housing together is through the Big Sky Resident Council.

With 1,116 military family housing units, Malmstrom’s privatized housing inventory is one of the largest in the Air Force. This poses a significant challenge to leadership’s awareness of concerns residents have within their homes and housing communities.

The Resident Council provides a forum for Airmen and their families living in privatized housing to meet with installation leadership and openly discuss concerns and issues within housing, offer suggestions, and identify improvements that may be needed.

The Resident Council is open to any Airman or family member residing in privatized housing. Every resident is welcome and highly encouraged to attend.

This is a great opportunity to build relationships and strengthen partnerships with key stakeholders on Malmstrom including the Military Housing Office and Malmstrom Air Force Base Homes.

Our first Resident Council meeting in October was very productive. Several concerns were addressed immediately.  

Col. Anita Feugate Opperman, 341st Missile Wing commander, chairs the Resident Council. Other installation leaders are present to help discuss and answer questions surrounding privatized housing.

The whole intent of the Resident Council is to give residents a voice when it comes to their experience with privatized housing. If leadership does not know about it, it cannot addressed.

This is where teamwork becomes critical for the success of Malmstrom’s privatized housing initiative. While meetings happen quarterly and are advertised widely across various platforms, not every resident can or would attend. This is where a group of volunteers, who live within the seven housing areas and neighborhoods in privatized housing, help assist with communicating concerns and issues at the council meeting and interact regularly with their neighbors and the Resident Advocate.

Community Representatives may be an Airman or spouse who live within privatized housing and want to make their community a better place to live. They are the eyes and ears of their respective neighborhoods and serve as a liaison between residents and the Resident Advocate program. They bring those concerns and issues they are aware of to the Resident Council and actively participate in the process. They also help ensure housing residents have the most relevant, timely and accurate information regarding housing matters. 

We would like to see more participation from housing residents. We know they have concerns, we know they have great ideas and suggestions—we want to hear them so we can begin to work together for the success of the privatized housing initiative at Malmstrom.    

To learn more about the Resident Council, or how to become a community representative in your housing neighborhood, contact Mr. Mike Ammons at (406) 731-1477 or email questions directly to michael.ammons.3@us.af.mil.  His office is located at 7218 Goddard Drive (Bldg. 770, Rm. 20).