Fury as bombshell report warns dire state of navy houses making troops depart

The UK’s armed forces and their families are being forced to live in “shocking” accommodation – with two thirds of homes needing major work, a damning report has found.

Parliament’s Defence Committee said damp and mould are not being dealt with following years of neglect – raising fears many will leave the military. MPs heard service personnel have been left “traumatised”, with rat infestations, hot water and heating failure and flooding not dealt with for months.

They were told that more than £2billion needed just to make nearly 50,000 homes “decent”. The committee heard calls for an overhaul of the way homes are allocated. One serviceman told members: “I have been traumatised by this experience to such an extent that, with all sincerity, I would rather end my service than be forced to move again.

“I simply cannot stomach the risk or thought of putting my wife and children through such a painful experience again.” Another said the poor state of homes “has undoubtedly caused a few to question their career choice”.

And one armed forces member told MPs it took months to fix filthy liquids coming through their ceiling.

The report said that between 2010 and 2022, when the Tories were in power, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) had a “fix on fail” approach, which led to further deterioration. Despite MOD assurances, the document states, homes with damp and mould continue to be allocated.

More than half of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) was built over 50 years ago, the report noted. It said “poor decision making and inequate maintenance over several decades” means two thirds needs extensive refurbishment or rebuilding.

General Sir Rob Magowan, deputy chief of the defence staff, said: “What has been happening across the estate within the last 10 to 15 years has now come home to roost.” Committee chairman Tan Dhesi said: “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.”

In November 1996, when John Major was PM, the MOD sold most of its housing stock – 57,400 properties – in England and Wales to a private company, Annington Property Limited (APL), for £1.7 billion.

Those required for service families were then leased back on a 200 year lease. This means the Government is “trapped”, the report says, having to pay for maintenace and rent but unable to benefit from property price rises.

Labour veterans minister Al Carns, a former Army Colonel, told the Commons in October: “I have been utterly shocked by the state of parts of the housing estate that we have inherited.

“Over the last 14 years, the Government of the time failed to decisively close with this issue, instead kicking the can down the road or continually topping up the leaking bucket. We have examples of families living in accommodation with no running water, with mould and with pest infestations; there were 53,000 complaints between 2018 and 2023.

“Having lived in some of that accommodation, I can tell the House that it is unacceptable.”

‘Dire housing for our heroes is undermining our national defence’

Labour MP Calvin Bailey writes for the Mirror:

During my 24 years of service in the Royal Air Force, I heard appalling stories about the dire state of the housing we provide for those who put their lives on the line to protect us.

As a new member of the Defence Select Committee, it now falls to me and my colleagues to push for effective change. Our first report, released today, is damning about serious failure to address these issues under the previous government.

I was appalled to read the testimonies, including one colleague who had no choice but to live with sewage coming through their ceiling for months before it was fixed. These problems have been growing, worsened by a ‘fix on fail’ maintenance policy.

As a result, two thirds of service homes need extensive refurbishment or rebuilding, with satisfaction falling to its worst ever level in 2023. Short-term cost-cutting has generated a bill of billions now coming due.

Until 2022, it was considered acceptable to allocate homes that had known damp and mould. Our heroes accept danger to keep us safe, but we cannot accept such completely unnecessary risks to health and wellbeing, not only for our soldiers, sailors and pilots, but their partners and children too.

The impacts are severe, but the consequences extend far beyond individual families. All of us are less secure because of the impacts on recruitment and retention that arise from poor housing, low pay and other failures of policy and leadership over the past 14 years.

Our service people are the foundation of our national defence. We are living in a time of war in Europe and increasing threats from Russia and others. We have to focus on rebuilding morale and restoring trust, so we can attract, retain and reward the skilled and dedicated people who keep us all safe.