History
The Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH) manages the nation’s oldest continuously operating retirement community for enlisted military personnel. The Armed Forces Retirement Home-Washington (Home or AFRHW), located in Washington, D.C., represents one of the United States’ earliest attempts to provide a safe haven for aging and disabled military veterans. The institution has remained a symbol of the nation’s commitment to its military veterans for generations since its establishment in 1851.
The property known today as the Armed Forces Retirement Home-Washington (Home or AFRH-W) was established in 1851 as the northern branch of a new congressionally organized U.S. Military Asylum, an institution created to provide care for old and disabled veterans of the regular Army. A Board of Commissioners, composed of officials from the U.S. Army, administered the institution, while military governors headed each geographic branch. The Home is the only survivor of the three original branches. Today, it is one of two facilities administered by the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH), a successor to the U.S. Military Asylum. The Home consists today of 272 acres within Washington, D.C. with a second campus in Gulfport, Mississippi.
In 1991, Congress incorporated the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home and U. S. Naval Home in Gulfport, Mississippi, into a single independent establishment in the Executive Branch of the Federal government called the Armed Forces Retirement Home. At first, AFRH administered each facility as a separate branch of the institution, similar to the original conception of the original Military Asylum in 1851. In 2001, Congress reorganized the administration of AFRH, replacing the military Board of Commissioners and governor system with a civilian model headed by a chief operating officer, and named a director for each of the two facilities. The Naval Home was designated as the Armed Forces Retirement Home-Gulfport and the Washington, D.C. facility was designated as the Armed Forces Retirement Home-Washington — distinguishing them from AFRH the institution.
Final Master Plan
AFRH has completed a Master Plan for its Washington Campus to leverage its real estate assets, which will be the basis for facilitating and directing future development by the private sector and AFRH. Private development on the site will create an independent revenue stream for the Home.
NCPC Commission Action
The AFRH Master Plan was approved by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) on July 10, 2008. This approval allows AFRH to begin planning implementation of its Master Plan. AFRH is currently engaged in working to implement its Master Plan.