FORT BLISS -- City and school officials say they are ready for about 3,400 soldiers in a new infantry brigade recently created at Fort Bliss.

Some of the soldiers, mostly single and in the lower ranks, will live in barracks on post. Others will rent apartments and a few will buy homes. The unit's commander estimates about half will be married.

It is difficult for Army officials to provide exact numbers because the unit is forming from soldiers who recently joined the Army or who are transferring from other units. About 1,000 soldiers with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, are already at Fort Bliss. An additional 2,400 are to arrive by fall. City and school officials must use formulas provided by the Army to estimate how much demand for services will be created and where.

The schools are ready, said Bill Wachtel, an El Paso Independent School District senior resource analyst. Nearly $110 million is being spent to support Fort Bliss growth, he said.

Two new elementary schools are scheduled to open in August, including one on post, he said. Additions are planned or under way on three middle schools and two high schools that traditionally have enrolled students from Fort Bliss families, he said. If demand in one area exceeds capacity, those students could temporarily be shifted to another school that might not be as conveniently located, Wachtel said.

The other new elementary school is being built in Northeast El Paso, a short commute from Fort Bliss.

"Because of the price points of those homes, I think that will be a very attractive area," Wachtel said.

Pvt. Veaceslav Evgrafov is a member of the recently formed unit. His wife and 15-month-old son will soon move to El Paso, where they plan to rent an apartment. A Russian, he soon will become a U.S. citizen.

"For the short term, we feel fine" on housing, said Mathew McElroy, deputy director for planning for the city's Development Services Department.

However, the city expects a shortage of about 6,000 multifamily dwellings, such as apartments and duplexes, in 2010, McElroy said. Planning officials are proposing an incentive package that would allow apartment owners to pay no city property tax for five years, he said.

Fort Bliss is projected to have about 34,000 active-duty soldiers by 2013 when the post's expansion is complete.

"If all the ... relocations occurred at the front end of the process, it would be possible for the housing market to go from multiple vacancies to close to zero vacancies," said Tom Fullerton, a University of Texas at El Paso economist.

However, Fullerton said, the demand for housing has been weak this year. Soldiers will take up some of that slack.

"There are a record number of houses on the market right now," McElroy said. The city expects no problem with the supply of houses or lots to build them on through the end of the expansion, he added. Most of them are on the East Side or in Northeast El Paso, where soldiers are expected to locate.

Some of the higher-ranking soldiers will buy homes, but Army officials say soldiers typically rent, knowing they will rotate to another post in two or three years.

The post's new unit is an infantry unit, with a large number of enlisted soldiers who will need affordable housing.

Soldiers living in barracks are using temporary buildings on Biggs Army Airfield, but next year they are scheduled to move into a $450 million brigade combat team complex, said Clark McChesney, director of the Fort Bliss base transformation office. It's not clear how many will live on post and how many will live in the community, a brigade official said.

"Right now there's more than enough room," said Col. Christopher Cavoli, the 3-1 Armored commander. "The civilian or off-post housing is supposed to be sufficient as well."

Cavoli said the brigade has already contacted elementary schools about soldiers volunteering as mentors.

Living in the community "is something that is good for our professional soldiers," Cavoli said. "Sometimes they end up talking only to soldiers. If we work it correctly and we're good neighbors, we have an opportunity to integrate with the community."