Private developers fix, replace base housing

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With the bulk of the family housing privatization projects already awarded to private developers, defense and service officials are now focusing on making sure the deals — and the military houses — stay in good shape for the next 50 years, officials said.

Service officials awarded 11 projects in September as they tried to meet their goal of having most of the projects awarded in fiscal 2007. In all, 85 projects involving 171,529 units of family housing have been awarded to private developers, who are to fix or replace, maintain and manage the housing. When finished, the services will have awarded projects for about 195,000 houses by 2010.

The Army, Navy and Marine Corps have transferred all their problems with inadequate housing over to the private sector, and it’s the privatization partners’ responsibility now to fix or replace the housing. As of June 30, about one-third of the construction and renovation work in the projects awarded had been completed.

Of the 171,529 units of housing transferred, more than 129,000 were inadequate, according to defense officials. The Air Force has less than 10,000 inadequate units of family housing remaining in its inventory, and that should be addressed within the next year.

The Air Force has not moved as fast as the other services, partly because its housing stock was in better condition than that of the other services and did not need privatization as badly, said Bob Helwig, deputy director of housing for the Defense Department. By partnering with the private sector, the services have invested $1.66 billion in family housing, while the private sector has invested more than $20 billion.

“And the Air Force was more cautious in implementing privatization. They were more concerned that ceding control of housing to the private sector would end up with problems,” he said.

“We’re really in the home stretch now,” said William Armbruster, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for privatization and partnerships. The Army has transferred housing at 36 installations to private developers, with 76,000 units. In the end, about 88,000 units of housing will be privatized at 45 installations, and the goal is to complete the work by 2010. The Army is looking at ways to privatize smaller installations with smaller inventories of family housing, he said.

Sustainment — maintaining, renovating and replacing over the long term — is a key part of the projects, so that in 50 years, the houses do not end up dilapidated, as many were in the 1990s, Armbruster said. Short on money, the services did not fund the required maintenance for family housing and instead used money from housing allowances to fund other needs. Defense and service officials contend that with these privatization deals, the money from service members’ rent — based on their housing allowances — returns to the housing.

Surveys to find out satisfaction
The services conduct surveys to determine whether military families are satisfied with their housing and the services provided. Defense officials also have commissioned a study on the factors in service members’ housing choices, and researchers have started gathering information, Helwig said. Across the services, the occupancy rate of privatized housing is about 91 percent, he said.

But the amount of housing needed is a moving target, so tweaks are being made as a result of changes in end strengths, restationing and base realignment and closure.



Article: http://www.navytimes.com/benefits/ho...using_071016w/

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Army projects --

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Navy projects --

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Air Force projects --

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Marine Corps projects --