Defence Secretary John Healey announced a new Defence Housing Service on Monday, acknowledging that "Defence has failed those who serve on their housing." The initiative is part of a £9 billion, ten-year strategy to address what Healey called decades of "scandal" in military accommodation.
During a visit to newly improved accommodation in Uxbridge, West London, Healey told PA news agency: "We ask extraordinary things of those who serve, we ask them to deploy sometimes at a week's notice to the other side of the world, we ask them and their families to move every three years, and the very least they deserve is a decent home. The very last thing you want our forces to worry about is whether their husband or wife and child back home is living in a damp, cold, leaky home -- we're putting an end to that."
The new arm's-length public body will manage military housing and become one of Britain's largest publicly owned housing providers.
The strategy includes building 100,000 homes on surplus Ministry of Defence (MoD) land, prioritizing military families. It will take 36,000 service family accommodation homes back into public ownership, saving taxpayers £600,000 daily. Healey described it as the biggest renewal of armed forces housing in more than 50 years.
Minister for the Armed Forces Al Carns told PA news agency: "Over the last 14 years, we've failed to put the right resources behind it and manage it effectively. That's why we're creating this new Defence Housing Service to do it properly."
Opposition questions approach
Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge acknowledged that "With retention still one of the most critical issues in defence, it is vital our armed forces families are provided with the best quality accommodation." However, he questioned whether Labour's new service would have sufficient operational independence.
He criticized the policy as "months late," adding that the government now needs to see real ambition in practice when it comes to overhauling defence accommodation.
The move addresses a critical retention crisis. A Commons committee found two-thirds of service family accommodation "essentially no longer fit for purpose," while around a third of 133,000 single living accommodation spaces failed standards. Some 40% of service members cite accommodation as a reason to leave the armed forces.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
