Housing for Volunteers

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERVIEW

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

6.2 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 (e.g., service level agreements).

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

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

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

PROCEDURES

6.6 Do volunteers 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 Housing Management Handbook.

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

(1) The Project Leader/supervisor may set a rent for volunteers 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/supervisors can determine the value of services by using either the minimum wage or comparable series pay. They may request help from their servicing Human Resources Office. (The Independent Sector “Value of Volunteer Time” website may help officials to determine these values.) 

     (b) Project Leaders/supervisors may use the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-adjusted base rental rate of the quarters as calculated in iQMIS as an indication of the local market value of rent.

6.7 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/supervisor 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.

6.8 Do Project Leaders/supervisors have to justify adding new quarters to the inventory if the quarters are intended to be used exclusively to house volunteers? Yes. The requirements to add quarters to the inventory to house volunteers are the same as those for adding quarters used for paid employees. The Project Leader/supervisor seeks approval by preparing the following documentation:

A. Memorandum from the Region initiating the request: The memorandum, which is addressed to the Assistant Director – Business Management and Operations and signed by the Regional Director, must include an overview of the need.

B. Form DI 1871, Justification for New or Replacement Quarters: This form must include the nearest established community (NEC), the distance from the proposed quarters to the NEC, and the housing classification.

C. A Housing Requirements Analysis (HRA): Project Leaders/supervisors should contact their Regional Quarters Officer (RQO) for more information about the HRA.

6.9 Do volunteers need a Quarters Assignment Agreement (lease), and should their occupancy be recorded in iQMIS? Yes. All tenants of quarters, including volunteers and other people who are not Service employees, should have their occupancy recorded in iQMIS, and they must sign Form DI 1881, Quarters Assignment Agreement. This agreement is their lease; it states the terms of their occupancy.