02.13.19

Sullivan at Military Privatization Housing Oversight Hearing: “We Need to Fix the Program for Today and for the Future”

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK), chairman of the Senate Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee, joined with the Senate Personnel Subcommittee to receive testimony from military family members, companies, and the Department of Defense on the current condition of privatized military housing, the problems military families have had to grapple with, and solutions to ensure military families have the best possible housing.

The hearing comes on the heels of recent news reports spotlighting military service members and their families living in degrading on-base military housing that is operated by private contractors. In the lead-up to the hearing, the Senate Armed Services Committee received dozens of emails and calls from all corners of the country identifying dangerous living conditions, like radon, mold, and gas leaks. Additionally, in response to a solicitation from the committee, more than 16,000 responses were received by several military family organizations. More than half of respondents said they were dissatisfied with their military housing.

Senator Sullivan Opening Statement: 

“I want to make sure that as we listen to the families and recognize their service and courage that we have our other witnesses, the DoD witnesses, the contractors who are intently taking notes and thinking about how they will fix this problem. 

As I've dug into this issue, I'm hopeful that we can all agree, everybody here all the senators, all the witnesses, on three things: 

  1. We should have the best possible housing for our military and families. Period.  There's a lot of talk about the 1 percent in America. Well guess what we're looking at a lot of the 1 percent in America –  it's the less than 1 percent that actually raised their right hand to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and die for this country and their families. And they should have the best housing period. That shouldn't even be in dispute.
  1. Second, we need to fix the lack of accountability and oversight that has come from this, whether it's a DoD, or a chain of command, or contractors. What to me is so appalling as I've dug through a lot of these issues is how families, military families, weren't being listened to either within the chain of command. The Department of Defense or the contractors. We have to understand why and fix it. 
  1. And, finally, we need to fix the program for today and for the future. There are things in this hearing that I think are going to likely shock many Americans. We're going to hear about military families who are living with things like black mold and rodent infestations and raw sewage. 

We need to look at this program – not scrap this program. There are a lot of good homes, including in my state, in Alaska, that provide quality and affordable housing for our service members. But something has gone terribly wrong with the system and how to fix it. So I think if we can agree on these three things, Mr. Chairman, it will be an important start.

I do want to thank the service members and their families. It takes a lot of courage for you to be here--those who have traveled to be here, and we are looking forward to hearing your testimony.”

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