Tenants in military housing need more information about dispute process

The Defense Department’s struggles to provide suitable, well-maintained housing for its service members remain a problem in both privatized and government-owned housing, according to the Government Accountability Office

Military housing residents still need a formal dispute resolution process, housing inspectors need better training, and the department needs to improve its oversight for privatized housing providers, GAO found in a report this month.

Although the report points out legislation enacted since 2019 directs DoD to improve oversight, the department still has work to do. It cited unresolved concerns about assistance available to residents, poor housing conditions, and private company performance.

At a recent House Appropriations Committee hearing on military construction, Army Assistant Secretary for Installations, Energy and the Environment Rachel Jacobson offered an update on steps the Army made to remediate some of the problems brought up by the GAO report.

“With the help of third-party inspectors, the Army is fulfilling the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act mandate to conduct comprehensive inspections of 100% of the privatized housing inventory,” Jacobson said.

GAO noted while the inspections do take place, it wants DoD to improve the process. The report called for uniform inspection standards and more comprehensive training of inspectors.

“GAO found that although each of the military departments is conducting these inspections as required, DoD has not developed clear or consistent inspection standards and the military departments have not provided adequate inspector training,” said the report.

GAO also recommended more support for tenants in resolving disputes. Congress requires DoD to provide tenants access to advocates, but auditors found the roles are ill-defined and tenants don’t get enough information about how the dispute process works and how they can get help from advocates.

Both the Army and Navy agreed with GAO’s 19 recommendations, with the Air Force as the only service noting exceptions. On several of the recommendations for requiring more training, the Air Force only partially agreed to recommendations because they had already implemented necessary training.

Specifically relating to providing information about the dispute process, DoD said the Air Force already provided residents enough information.

In 2021, one of DoD’s largest privatized housing suppliers, Balfour Beatty Communities, agreed to pay $65 million in fines and restitution after pleading guilty to defrauding the military and falsifying maintenance records. Years of complaints about privatized housing led the Pentagon to establish a tenant’s bill of rights for its residents.

Not all housing suppliers initially agreed to abide by the bill of rights. At the subcommittee hearing, Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Kevin Vereen said the Army has made progress on better supporting its members living in privatized housing.

“We’ve implemented the tenant bill of rights for all 44 of our installations. We’ve implemented 100% change of occupancy inspections and 100% assurance checks on the life, health and safety of our families to include work orders,” Vereen said.

In order to upgrade and maintain existing housing and barracks and build new housing, Vereen said the Army plans to spend close to $1 billion dollars per year for the next ten years. Although progress has been made, Vereen said the Army has not yet hit 100% of its goals for sustainment and maintenance of existing housing.

“We’ve made progress with the help of Congress, first in barracks with congressional support. We’ve increased sustainment to 92%, we spent $2.7 billion in fiscal 2022 and 2023. The Army plans to invest another $11 billion in military construction and facilities sustainment, restoration and modernization for barracks between fiscal 2024 and 2032,” Vereen said.

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