Housing on Fort Riley may not be as plentiful after January when an agreement between the army base and the local community goes in to effect.

Mick McCallister, Mayor of Junction City, said that this reduction in on-post housing will not only be a benefit Junction City, but the Flint Hills region as well.

“We have come to an agreement that out at Fort Riley there are going to downsize their inventory by some 253 units; beginning in January they’re going to remove 160 in phase one and then in phase two the remainder will be demolished – that is a huge help to the community, that’s a huge help outside the gate whether it’s in the region or whether it’s Junction City alone,” said McCallister.

McCallister said that it was very important to him that housing numbers on post were at the agreed amount of 3827; citing that the housing problem outside the “gates of Fort Riley” was one of the driving factors in his decision to run for Mayor.

“I wanted the community to be able to be on a level playing field; and what was promised to the community I wanted to make sure that happened,” said McCallister.

McCallister credits his visit to AUSA last year as the reason for the reduction at Fort Riley.

“If we hadn’t gone to AUSA and talked face to face with those folks and let them know what our feelings were and what the community’s feelings were,” nothing would have been done, said McCallister.