SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 — Army senior leaders and family housing providers recently discussed the ongoing construction and renovation efforts for military housing during the Army Privatized Housing Council meeting in Arlington, Virginia.
This annual gathering allows Army leaders and housing providers to discuss the importance of ensuring Soldiers and their families have access to safe, comfortable and modern living conditions while looking for innovative ways to improve military family housing.
“Over the next three years, private housing providers are expected to invest over $2 billion in new construction, renovations and other development projects,” said Rachel Jacobson, assistant secretary of the U.S. Army for installations, energy and environment. “This significant investment demonstrates our commitment to providing safe, healthy and sufficient housing possible to our Soldiers and Families.”
Six different private companies operate the Army’s inventory of 87,000 family homes across 50 locations around the country. The council discussed several challenges facing the military’s privatized housing as well as some possible changes to make sure privatized housing meets satisfactory standards:
- Operational costs for labor and material have outpaced privatized housing revenues presenting concerns about the long-term financial sustainability for many of the housing projects.
- The council agreed to explore a standard quality assurance across all housing providers that would make sure home maintenance was properly prioritized and executed.
- Recent changes strengthened the standard ground lease for the privatized housing, clarifying housing providers responsibility to provide safe homes for families and comply with the tenants’ bill of rights.
- Army leaders emphasized the need to link financial incentives to the quality of housing provided to families.
The Army’s 2025 budget request includes funding for continued third-party inspections of privatized family homes. All homes are inspected in between tenants.
The Army requires additional inspections when the homes are occupied when serious health and safety concerns are raised. Jacobson said the Army aims to complete inspections for all family housing by the end of fiscal year 2026. This includes all privatized and Army-owned family housing.
Another topic of discussion at the meeting was educating junior Soldiers on lease agreements. Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer asked that leaders look at housing education, to include lease agreement education, in Soldier onboarding programs.
Currently, the Army requires housing providers to give prospective tenants a plain language briefing prior to signing a lease and again 30 days after move-in. This brief presents the facts on tenants’ rights and responsibilities associated with tenancy in privatized housing and gives points of contacts for the Army Housing Office, the housing advocate, and the privatized housing provider to resolve issues within the home.
“These Soldiers are often experiencing independent living for the first time, and they rely on us to provide safe, secure environments,” he said. “We can empower our Soldiers with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions and uphold their responsibilities as tenants.”
The service continues to ensure each installation has sufficient and quality housing. The Army is working with the private housing providers to explore innovative ways to redevelop the existing housing inventory, and where needed, add additional housing units, that best meet the needs of modern families.
In August 2023, the Army acquired 51.7 acres of land in Doral, Florida from the Federal Aviation Administration, enabling the Army to plan a privatized housing community for unaccompanied Soldiers and families assigned to U.S. Army Garrison Miami and U.S. Southern Command. The initiative, which utilizes existing privatized housing authorities, is known as Cadence Communities.
This project leverages the revenue from 371 existing family housing assets at six small geographically dispersed Army installations to fund the construction of 79 family housing units and 60 unaccompanied housing apartments adjacent to the U.S. Southern Command headquarters, focused primarily on junior to mid-grade service members.
Cadence Communities also has plans to demolish 26 legacy homes at Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pennsylvania and replace them with new construction. Additionally, the Army is building 26 military housing units at Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico as part of a military construction project. Construction is expected to finish next year with the homes transferring to Cadence Communities, LLC for long-term maintenance and operation.
“The relationship we have with [industry providers] is important,” Weimer said. “Our combined efforts in creating welcoming communities for families is improving, but we still have a lot of work to do across a lot of installations. For example, language standardization in agreements and maintenance operations would be a continued step in that direction, enabling leaders to enforce and educate Soldiers on what the standard is.”
The Army is also collaborating with partners to bring energy-efficient features to privatized housing. At Fort Riley, Kansas, 12 solar panel systems were recently installed, which resulted in a 30% reduction in electrical consumption. Additionally, the Army recently approved installation of additional solar panels at Fort Riley that will be operational in approximately six months.
These energy-efficient investments help reduce the risk of power outages on commercial grids. Through conservation, innovation, and collaboration with third-parties, the Army is helping incorporate resiliency not only in privatized housing, but across installation infrastructure.
“As we look to the future, our focus remains on enhancing the quality of life for our Soldiers and their families through dedicated investment and innovative solutions in privatized housing,” Jacobson said. “Our collaborative efforts with [Military Housing Privatization Initiative] providers are crucial to achieving these goals and I am confident that together we will continue to make significant strides.”
Soldiers and their families can provide confidential feedback on their experience through the annual Army Housing Tenant Satisfaction Survey.
By Christopher Hurd, Army News Service