Upon arrival at Fort Irwin, most families and some single soldiers can anticipate living in the nearby town of Barstow for a week to several months while waiting for on-post housing to become available.
Because of the additional costs of living and driving distance between Fort Irwin and Barstow, most families would prefer to live on-post, but apartments are fairly easy to find available in Barstow for rent on a month to month basis if you anticipate a wait of several months. Many of the apartments found in Barstow are fairly modern having been built within the past 15 years or so. However, the houses for rent are oftentimes much older.
If you expect to go to on-base housing within 30 to 45 days and the cost for utility/security deposits and hook-ups seem rather extravagant, you may choose to rent a motel room that has limited cooking and refrigeration capabilities. These rooms are readily available for $450-$900 a month.
Fort Irwin has a total of 2052 sets of family quarters available for on-post living. Most of these single family dwellings, duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes both single story and two story have been built within the past 15 years. The quarters all come with central air conditioning and have blinds at the windows. Most of these have single car garages. The more recently completed housing units come carpeted with overhead ceiling fans in the master bedroom and the dining area, and fenced backyards. The front of the houses is landscaped with native desert plants. 242 new homes have recently been built in Crackerjack Flats. These new homes have 2 car garages, mud rooms, carpet, tile floors, 5 star energy appliances, granite countertops and many more new amenities
