{"id":53748,"date":"2019-03-15T16:12:28","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T16:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/15\/citing-housing-privatization-successes-navy-moves-to-privatize-navy-and-marine-corps-lodging\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:42:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:42:48","slug":"citing-housing-privatization-successes-navy-moves-to-privatize-navy-and-marine-corps-lodging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/management\/pay-benefits\/2019\/03\/15\/citing-housing-privatization-successes-navy-moves-to-privatize-navy-and-marine-corps-lodging\/","title":{"rendered":"Citing housing privatization successes, Navy moves to privatize Navy and Marine Corps lodging"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Navy is moving toward privatizing all lodging <\/a>in the Navy and Marine Corps, with the secretary of the Navy citing the successes of the military housing privatization <\/a>program in his reasoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This affects all lodging on Navy and Marine Corps installations, both taxpayer-funded and lodging using non-appropriated funding. The current timeline would start the first phase of lodging privatization by December, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is lodging for official travel for temporary duty as well as those on permanent change of station moves, and for others, when space is available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a Feb. 6 memo to the chief of naval operations and the Marine Corps commandant, Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer cited the Navy\u2019s savings of more than $8 billion in construction costs and another $5 billion over the 50-year life of the housing privatization effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am committed to realize similar successes by privatizing our lodging portfolio, both appropriated and non-appropriated, using competitive processes to create sustainable financial operations and improve the quality of these facilities,\u201d Spencer wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But some are questioning why the Navy is moving so quickly on this effort, especially given the recent concerns with privatized housing. \u201cWhy would we use that model to privatize lodging?\u201d said one source who is familiar with lodging in the Defense Department, who asked not to be named.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s at least one other option to be considered, which is a combination of partial privatization, with the government still maintaining oversight, he said. \u201cThen you don\u2019t fall into the privatized housing trap. The government still maintains control.\u201d Recent reports and testimony before Congress detailed military families\u2019 problems with their housing and their frustrations in getting them fixed, partly because of lack of adequate government oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut the Secretary of the Navy is pushing this lodging privatization extremely hard,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spencer explained his intentions in the Feb. 6 memorandum to the chief of naval operations and the Marine Corps commandant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReforming the department\u2019s business practices and shedding non-core functions to focus resources on warfighting readiness is among my highest priorities,\u201d Spencer wrote. He cited housing privatization as a \u201cbest practice toward this end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spencer signed the memo a week before a Feb. 13 Senate hearing where military spouses testified about mold and other problems in their military housing, and their frustration in trying to get their privatized housing company to address the problems, as well as difficulties getting assistance from installation officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, preliminary results of an online survey conducted by the Military Family Advisory Network, also released Feb. 13, showed that more than half of military families who responded to a survey about their privatized housing reported having a negative experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since that hearing, the service secretaries and service chiefs have acknowledged there have been problems with privatized housing, including lack of adequate government oversight, and they have been fully engaged in finding out the scope of the problem, getting the issues addressed, and coming up with long-term solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\t