Lawmakers call on Pentagon to address “poor” military housing conditions

A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Wednesday called on the Defense Department to address “poor living conditions” in military housing for service members and their families, pointing to specific concerns with private companies overseeing housing with what the congressional group considers unfair contracts.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the lawmakers said the military’s “terrible, decades-long agreements with private companies to provide military housing” have failed service members and their families.

“The stress and uncertainty that military families face with the multiple moves and transitions between locations and assignments that the military requires is amplified and worsened by systemic housing issues,” they wrote in the letter. “Military families should not lose their right to a safe and healthy home, or the ability to seek redress, simply because they live on base.”

The letter was signed by Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Tim Kaine (Va.), and Jon Ossoff (Georgia), along with Representatives Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), James Moylan (R-Guam), and Ro Khanna ( D-California).

For years, lawmakers have raised concerns about the state of military housing and taken steps to address the persistent issue. The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes an increase in the basic allowance for housing, along with other efforts to increase the livelihoods of the U.S. military, including a large pay raise for junior enlisted members.

The 2024 NDAA also directed the Pentagon to create a working committee, Military Family Readiness for Military Housing Working Group, to allow military families and senior Defense Department leaders to review and make recommendations related to housing.

But Congress remains concerned that none of these measures address the long-standing issue of military housing. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report last year concluded that the Pentagon is failing to maintain good living conditions and that thousands of military personnel live below standards. The report prompted 17 lawmakers to demand that the Defense Department address the issues.

According to a Department of Defense response to Congress, in 2023, there were 4,588 reports of mold in privatized Air and Space Forces housing.

In this week’s letter, the lawmakers cited a recent report from the Project On Government Oversight that found that service members have been living with conditions such as toxic mold but have struggled to resolve the problems due to restrictive contracts with private companies.

They argued that the Pentagon has entered into agreements with private companies that make it nearly impossible to terminate a contract and address concerns about tenants’ rights or environmental issues.

Military personnel could also be caught by a federal enclave doctrine that prevents them from suing, they said. State laws strengthening tenants’ rights adopted after the state transferred land to the federal government for military housing no longer apply at the U.S. base.

Lawmakers said this loophole creates a “liability shield” for corporate owners as they argue that the Defense Department is “trapped in long-standing, substandard agreements with private companies.”

“All of these factors combine to create a nightmarish military housing experience for service members and their families,” the group wrote.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story