A sweeping military housing reform plan, pitched as a way to protect U.S. service families from shoddy homes and unresponsive landlords, is moving forward with fewer protections than what families and congressional reformers had sought
NEW YORK - A sweeping U.S. military housing reform plan, pitched as a way to protect service families from shoddy homes and unresponsive landlords, has been watered down to remove several protections tenants and Congress had sought.
Though the rent and dispute resolution provisions were cited in the original draft released last March, they were not included last week when U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper unveiled the tenant bill of rights. Fifteen other measures are going ahead as planned. “Many of the rights set forth by Congress pertain to legal matters that do not lend themselves to unilateral action by the Department,” Esper and the secretaries of the branches wrote when they unveiled the tenants’ rights.
“If the companies won’t agree then it’s time to renegotiate the ‘partnership’” between the Pentagon and the landlords, “starting with a mutually beneficial relationship and transparency of the contracts,” said Darlena Brown who, after her own son was exposed to lead on a Georgia Army base, started the nonprofit Military Housing Advocacy Network.
Two others, Balfour Beatty Communities and Lincoln Military Housing, said they were working with the Defense Department to develop language that all the companies and their financiers can support. A spokesman for Balfour Beatty Communities said the company seeks more details, such as what the resolution process will entail.
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