Service chiefs grilled over efforts to fix mold, vermin and other military housing woes

https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/2019/12/03/service-chiefs-grilled-over-efforts-to-fix-mold-vermin-and-other-military-housing-woes/

Service chiefs grilled over efforts to fix mold, vermin and other military housing woes

By: Karen Jowers    1 day ago

Senators peppered service officials for more than two hours Tuesday with questions about ongoing problems with privatized family housing.

Meanwhile, government auditors issued a report saying DoD’s measures of tenant satisfaction are fundamentally flawed, leading to financial rewards to housing companies that may have been undeserved.

The latest hearing came 10 months after the first hearings where family members testified about the hazards that threatened their health and safety, and their frustrations in getting their landlord to fix the problems—and no help from their military officials on base.

But things haven’t changed much in the interim, said the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
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Dozens of family members attended the hearing, often clapping at senators’ questions and comments, such as when Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., suggested that some of the privatized company CEOs should move into military housing over the holidays.

They clapped when Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said she didn’t understand why a single installation commander hasn’t been fired because of these problems. Duckworth also said the services should notify all families who have previously lived in these houses about the problems, in case health issues surface in the future..

Although defense and service officials are headed in the right direction to fix problems that have led to mold, pest infestation, water leakage and other issues in family housing, it’s going to take sustained effort over a number of years to fully meet their goal of providing safe, clean housing for all service members and their families, an official with the Government Accountability Office told senators.

In a new report issued Tuesday, GAO found that defense officials have been reporting to Congress fundamentally flawed information about the success of the privatized military housing program for years, including tenant satisfaction rates of 87 percent as recently as 2017. DoD has also used high occupancy rates as a measure -- also flawed, because families live on base for many reasons such as the need to be near work and base amenities, not the quality of housing, auditors found.
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