August 3, 2005
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has authorized Runzheimer International to conduct a three-year nationwide expansion of the Automated Housing Referral Network (AHRN), a web-based service that allows relocating military families to find available housing in their new location before they move. An integral part of the military's permanent change-of-station (PCS) process, AHRN (www.ahrn.com) facilitates homefinding at any time of day from anywhere in the world, removing inefficiencies, cost and stress from the PCS process, the number two military family issue after pay as cited in a recent DOD survey. AHRN will prove especially valuable in the near future as hundreds of thousands of troops returning from Iraq or as a result of the recently announced base realignments and closures join the other 70% of the military who live off-base in the search for available housing in hundreds of local communities.
AHRN is unique in that it targets only military personnel and their families, Military Housing Offices (MHOs), and registered property managers and landlords. Unlike other rental web sites, AHRN does not charge fees for rental listings, which helps ensure a robust selection of listings. Local property managers and landlords can register at www.ahrn.com and enter information about their available rental properties, including photos, which is then displayed to military members searching for a property in that location. In addition, AHRN provides service members with access to home selling and buying services, as well as the ability to list their own properties for rent. Runzheimer's partners in the AHRN effort are PRIDE Industries and MovingStation.
AHRN was successfully deployed and tested in nine (9) different military housing areas during the past 12 months. With over 8,000 military members and 1,000 property managers and landlords already using the site, AHRN maintains listing data on more than 20,000 rental properties - including apartments, single-family homes, townhouses, condos and more - in just these nine locations. A schedule of new deployment areas for the next 12 months will be posted shortly at www.ahrn.com. AHRN also frees MHO staff from trying to maintain often outdated listings themselves so they can focus on providing personalized service to their incoming military members.
"We look forward to the success of AHRN and the ease it will provide the military members in finding available private sector housing." states Joe Sikes, Director of Housing and Competitive Sourcing in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology.
For more information, contact Larry Fredrich at Runzheimer International, Runzheimer Park, Rochester, Wisconsin 53167. Telephone: 262-971-2551. Fax: 262-971-2373.
Email lrf@runzheimer.com or go to www.ahrn.com.
About Runzheimer International
Founded in 1933, Runzheimer International serves 60 percent of the Fortune 500 as well as numerous U.S. and Canadian government departments and agencies. Recognized for providing innovative solutions to both the public and private sectors, Runzheimer is the nation's authoritative source on employee mobility issues, including costs of vehicle ownership and operation, cost-of-living, housing and relocation, and travel management.
About PRIDE Industries
PRIDE Industries, the nation's largest employer of people with disabilities, provides a variety of outsourcing business solutions including integrated facilities management with web-based technology solutions. The company employs approximately 3,500 individuals in 15 states, including more than 2,500 people with disabilities. The firm has received numerous customer service awards from clients, including Fortune 500 companies. Founded in 1966, PRIDE is headquartered in Roseville, California.
About MovingStation
MovingStation is a full-service global relocation management company founded in 1995 with a vision to revolutionize customer service for people who are moving. Its passion to improve the relocation experience by helping overcome the disruption, frustration, and inefficiencies of the move process, led them to develop ground-breaking software to support high level personal service to corporations, government agencies and individuals.
