Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee today blasted private military housing companies for behavior equivalent to that of “slum lords.”
Civilian and uniformed military leaders testified before the committee in response to a Government Accountability Office report that found problems in the Pentagon’s oversight of private housing for its personnel. Military families around the country have reported problems with the housing, including rampant mold, rat infestations, and rotting walls and floors.
“As someone who served myself, this pisses me off. What you endure is hard enough,” Arizona Republican Sen. Martha McSally said during the hearing.
“Maybe some of the CEOs need to move into some military housing over the holidays, what do you guys think about that?” McSally added, drawing applause from military families in the audience. “And see how they feel about trying to figure out where they’re going to put up their Christmas tree or where they’re going to be serving Christmas dinner.”
The senator compared the actions of the housing companies to those of “slum lords.”
Some families’ complaints have been ignored, according to Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, who on Monday visited two communities accompanied by Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy.
“In one house, we saw a family who were repeatedly told that they didn’t have a mold problem,” Kaine said. “The husband has some carpentry skills, and he could remove some molding around a shower and find that no, indeed there was mold. And so he was being told there wasn’t a problem when there was.”
Even after the problem was discovered, the family couldn’t get a response from the housing company until they threatened to move out.
“And then the housing company jumped into action, maybe because there was going to be a financial consequence if they moved out,” Kaine said.
Several military families have suffered serious health problems as a result of poor housing conditions. Some have pursued legal action, including five families that lived in private housing on MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. Their lawsuit details gruesome conditions, including untreated mold that sprouted mushrooms and rotting walls. It alleges that these conditions have caused severe health problems, including lung and neurological damage.
In April, the newly retired head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Joseph Votel and his wife filed a lawsuit for damages they said were caused by privatized housing companies and their contractors.
The GAO report found that the Pentagon has failed to properly exercise its authority over private housing. Performance metrics set by the Department of Defense have not brought results.
“For example, a common measure is how quickly the private partner responded to a work order, not whether the issue was actually addressed,” the report found.
Data collected on home maintenance was not reliably or consistently obtained, the GAO concluded, finding and that some data in reports to Congress are “unreliable and may be misleading.”
