{"id":22590,"date":"2019-02-25T23:10:39","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T23:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/25\/the-military-is-getting-serious-about-putting-eyes-on-your-mold-and-other-housing-problems\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:54:17","slug":"the-military-is-getting-serious-about-putting-eyes-on-your-mold-and-other-housing-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/management\/pay-benefits\/2019\/02\/25\/the-military-is-getting-serious-about-putting-eyes-on-your-mold-and-other-housing-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"The military is getting serious about \nputting eyes on your mold and other housing problems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the wake of reports from military families<\/a> dealing with problems ranging from mold to mice to lead paint in their housing \u2014 and persistent frustrations in getting their concerns addressed<\/a> \u2014 service officials are taking immediate steps to identify and fix problems, and to give their residents a voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started with mandates from the highest levels to put eyes on the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army characterizes its effort as an \u201cinstallation-wide\u201d housing inspection, and the Air Force <\/a>as a \u201c100 percent in-person health and safety check\u201d of all family housing units. The Navy <\/a>and Marine Corps are contacting all their service members, but are leaving it up to their service members to agree to a voluntary visit of their homes, for privacy reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Marine Corps is taking the effort a step further, by including off-base civilian rental properties in their visits, in addition to government and privatized housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army and Air Force are also looking into a possible \u201ctenant bill of rights\u201d that would allow service members to suspend their rent payments<\/a> if their problems are not resolved. This remedy was brought up by military spouses <\/a>during a Feb. 13 Senate hearing as an immediate step to help get problems resolved more quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense and service housing officials, and representatives from five of the companies that manage a large number of privatized housing units, said they wouldn\u2019t oppose the idea of withholding the rent payments if problems are not resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The services are also working with privatized housing companies to put additional permanent processes in place for addressing residents\u2019 problems, which were the subject of an investigation by Reuters. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what the services are doing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the next 30 days, senior commanders will complete installation-wide housing inspections, and report the results up through the chain of command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army senior leaders have also required senior commanders to personally conduct town hall meetings to allow families to voice their concerns. Leaders have met with senior executives from seven companies who agreed to work on the \u201ctenant bill of rights,\u201d and allow soldiers to suspend their rent payments if problems are not resolved. They agreed to improve work-order transparency through an online tracking system, and to make sure there\u2019s adequate staff available at each installation to address residents\u2019 housing problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\t