OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 12:50 PM PT — Thursday, December 5, 2019
The poor condition of military housing continues to be a massive
problem in America. The Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing
this week to discuss the results of the Government Accountability
Office’s recent report, which detailed the collapsing state of base housing.The committee said the report showed private contractors, who run base housing, let their tenants live in inhospitable conditions and have largely ignored maintenance requests.
Hundreds of service members across the country have reportedly been forced to stay in housing with faulty appliances, rodent infestations and mold. Recent lawsuits indicated that families living in these units have suffered health issues, including memory loss and lifelong illnesses such as lupus.
Senators also said contractors gave misleading reports on the conditions of their housing. One 2017 report said overall resident satisfaction was at 86 percent.
Some senators have blamed the situation on a delay in government funding. Both sides of the aisle have suggested using the National Defense Authorization Act to allocate funds from the Department Of Defense to help alleviate some of the issues.
The pentagon is also finalizing a draft of a tenant bill of rights, which will mandate that service members are given better living conditions.
Despite this, Accountability Office official Elizabeth Field said new legislation isn’t necessary to make positive changes. She suggested that the solution will come from the proper enforcement of current laws.
“I think the most important thing that this committee can do is to keep the pressure on both the services as well as the partners,” said Field. “A lot of the things that are in, for example, the Bill of Rights are things that could be done right now, they don’t necessarily need to be legislatively mandated.”
Without an immediate fix, many military families will be forced to stay in hotels for extended periods of time as their lawsuits make their way through the courts.
