Housing for Volunteers

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERVIEW

5.1 What is the purpose of this chapter? This chapter describes how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) provides quarters to volunteers.

5.2 What is the scope of this chapter? This chapter applies to all employees involved in the management of quarters that the Service owns, leases, or manages through other means.

5.3 What is a volunteer? We define a volunteer in 150 FW 1, Policy, Procedures, and Responsibilities for Volunteers. 

5.4 What is the overall policy? Volunteers must meet specific conditions to qualify for quarters. See 150 FW 3, Volunteer Program Operations.

5.5 What are the authorities and responsibilities for this chapter? See 371 FW 1 for a list of the authorities and responsibilities for all the chapters in Part 371.

PROCEDURES

5.6 Do volunteers pay rent? This section clarifies the situations in which volunteers may use housing without charges or will be expected to pay rent.

A. All rental charges and collections must be in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget’s Circular A-45 and the Department of the Interior’s (Department) Housing Management Handbook.

B. If the Project Leader/Field Station Manager decides to charge volunteers rent for Government-furnished quarters that the Service owns:

(1) Rent for volunteers may be set for anywhere from $0 up to the market value (see 150 FW 3). 

(2) The rent should be no less than the market value of the rent of the quarters less the market value of the services the volunteer provides. 

     (a) Project Leaders/Field Station Managers can determine the value of services by using either the minimum wage or comparable series pay. They may request help from their Joint Administrative Operations Human Resources Specialist. (The Independent Sector’s “Value of Volunteer Time” website may help officials to determine these values.) 

     (b) Project Leaders/Field Station Managers may use the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-adjusted base rental rate of the quarters as calculated in the internet Quarters Management Information System (iQMIS) as an indication of the local market value of rent.

C. If the Project Leader/Field Station Manager decides not to charge volunteers rent for use of quarters on the station:

(1) The volunteer must provide enough work hours to cover the cost of the rent.

(2) The station must use operational or maintenance funds to pay for any associated repairs or utility costs while the unit is occupied by the volunteer as the benefitting party from the volunteer’s services. 

(3) The National Quarters Officer must verify the volunteer status with the station annually and approve the continuous residency. 

(4) The volunteer must be entered in iQMIS and their Volunteer Service Agreement (i.e., Optional Form (OF) 301A) should be saved to their tenant file online, updating the agreement annually.

5.7 What happens if the quarters the Service uses to house a volunteer are not Government-owned?

A. We may provide non-Government housing to volunteers at a reasonable cost when station housing is not available.

B. The Project Leader/Field Station Manager may require:

(1) The volunteer to pay the rent directly to the landlord and ask the Service for reimbursement, or 

(2) A lease managed by the Regional Space Leasing Coordinator for temporary/seasonal housing or rotating occupancy with rent paid by the benefitting program’s account.

5.8 Do Project Leaders/Field Station Managers have to justify adding new quarters to the inventory if the quarters are intended to be used exclusively to house volunteers? Yes. The station must initiate the process that is described in the Department’s Housing Management Handbook and 371 FW 1. 

5.9 Do volunteers need a housing assignment agreement (i.e., lease), and should their occupancy be recorded in iQMIS? Yes. All tenants of quarters, including volunteers and non-Service employees, must sign Form DI 1881, Housing Assignment Agreement, and have their occupancy recorded in iQMIS. This agreement is their lease; it states the terms of their occupancy.