Military Family Housing Faces Oversight Failures, Health Risks, IG Report Finds

A recent report from the Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) highlights serious shortcomings in military family housing, citing issues such as understaffed teams, inadequate oversight, and health and safety hazards that jeopardize the well-being of military families. 

A recent report, named "Audit of the Military Services' Oversight of Privatized Military Housing Maintenance," examined seven military installations and revealed that the military services "may be allowing" families to occupy homes with unresolved hazards stemming from insufficient maintenance oversight.

The inquiry centered on military accommodations operated by Hunt Military Communities, the leading private manager of military housing, which oversees 52,000 residences nationwide. Concerns were raised regarding deficiencies at various installations, such as Redstone Arsenal, Fort Sam Houston, Moody Air Force Base, and Marine Corps Base Hawaii. 

Recent evaluations at these locations revealed that officials from the Military Housing Office failed to conduct essential maintenance inspections, resulting in a variety of unresolved hazards, including malfunctioning laundry machines, inoperative carbon monoxide detectors, and the presence of mold.

"A senior official from the DoD OIG stated that military families are being put in homes that have significant safety issues due to a lack of adequate oversight." The findings revealed staffing challenges, highlighting that Fort Sam Houston’s MHO was managed by just two individuals overseeing 925 housing units. This resulted in missing documentation and irregular work order evaluations, allowing maintenance problems to go unaddressed.

The OIG discovered that, alongside health and safety issues, the Department of the Army and Navy did not adequately oversee the distribution of incentive fee awards. For instance, Fort Sam Houston incurred an excess payment of over $11,000 due to insufficient oversight. If not addressed, the base may incur an extra $1.4 million in overpayments throughout the rest of its agreement with Hunt.

A total of 19 recommendations were outlined in the report to enhance oversight and guarantee the safety of military housing. Efforts are underway to strengthen internal controls for private housing operators, such as Hunt, to create consistent definitions for health and safety risks and to implement standardized response times for work orders. 

Officials from the Army, Navy, and other relevant departments have reached a consensus on tackling 17 out of the 19 recommendations. Nonetheless, there are still two outstanding issues, and military officials have been allotted 30 days to submit action plans to tackle them.