Armed forces housing isn't luxurious, but the rents have always been a pretty good deal. Members of the forces have suffered through years of low salaries and crippling pay freezes, low-cost housing helped alleviate some of the burden.

Then recently the defence minister said it was time to give the lower ranking men and women who live in homes like these across the country a pay raise. But that was quickly followed with a rent increase.

The pay raise is 2.5 percent, about the same as the rent increase.

Robert Charest is a leading seaman in the Navy. His pay went up 2.5 per cent. The Charests have five children and they needed the raise. Right now, people in his trade make between $32,000 and $45,000 per year.

Charest says he's not happy with the situation. "I'm angry. First they give you a raise and then they take it away."

Its the same story across the country. About 30 per cent of Canada's soldiers live in houses owned by the Defence Department. Almost 16,000 of them can expect their rent to go up. The letters went out the same week the pay raise was announced.

The Defence Department says rent increases are an unfortunate fact of life. "We have given them incremental raises which exceed the rent increase," said Defence Minister Art Eggleton.

Some members of the armed services wonder if it's all a cruel joke. The pay raise kicked in on April 1, and some say it's hard to determine which is the April Fool's joke, the pay raise or the rent hike.