A House of Commons defence committee report today finds that accommodation for service personnel and their families is “shocking”, with two-thirds of service family accommodation needing major work to meet modern standards, and families facing uncertainty over allocation of accommodation.
Issues with damp and mould persist and the report calls on the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) – the organisation responsible for maintaining and servicing accommodation – to do more to resolve outstanding problems with damp and mould across the defence estate.
The report, Service Accommodation, notes that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has under-invested in the defence estate over decades. A third of single living accommodation and two-thirds of service family accommodation are in such poor condition that they are essentially no longer fit for purpose, the MPs said. “It would require billions of pounds of investment to refurbish or rebuild all military housing to meet modern living standards,” the report says.
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation’s contractual arrangements with Amey and Vivo for the maintenance and repair of its accommodation have resulted in poor contractor performance, poor quality of maintenance and repair work, the report says.
The report calls for the MoD and the Treasury to make ongoing funding commitments to improve the defence estate before it deteriorates beyond repair, and before greater numbers of personnel decide to leave the military because of poor accommodation. The report says that the government should set out in detail investment plans for service accommodation. It concludes that the current levels of funding are not enough to bring all service accommodation up to a decent, modern standard.
Defence committee chair Tan Dhesi MP said: “Our brave servicemen and women and their families have a right to live in safe, decent accommodation. Yet evidence received recently by the committee exposes the unacceptable conditions that many are having to endure. Service families’ trust has been further eroded by ongoing maintenance issues.
“It is simply not acceptable to expect those who fight for their country to live in housing with serious damp and mould – conditions that pose a danger to their and their families’ health.
“It is clear that many of these problems cannot be solved without major investment in the defence estate. However difficult public finances might be, the Ministry of Defence and Treasury need to find a way to work together to make sure that all Service housing on offer genuinely meets a decent standard.
“The Ministry of Defence’s mishandled announcement on the allocation of Service accommodation has also left people in a state of uncertainty. Both low-quality accommodation and uncertainty over eligibility will only compound the recruitment and retention crisis facing our Armed Forces.
“Suitable accommodation is a key part of the offer to our forces. If the government is serious about addressing declining morale and low recruitment, then it needs to act fast.”
