POLITICS FEBRUARY 13, 2019 / 7:47 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Senators vow urgent reform to correct 'unacceptable' military housing conditions

Joshua Schneyer, M.B. Pell
5 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senators scolded real estate executives and Pentagon leadership over “unacceptable” conditions in privatized military housing on Wednesday, vowing urgent reform to protect service families from widespread health and safety hazards in base homes.

At Senate Armed Services Committee hearings in response to Reuters reports describing U.S. military families facing squalid living conditions, lawmakers proposed fixes to hold private landlords and military branches accountable for hazards including peeling lead paint, mold and vermin infestations.

“The testimony suggests the system is broken,” Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, told executives from five of the largest private companies that operate military housing. “The problems were obvious to military families, but they weren’t obvious to you.”

Senator Jim Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma and the Committee’s chairman, pledged to make military housing reform the subject of further Senate hearings and said Congress must halt the problems.

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