UK set to improve military housing

The UK government is set to publish new plans to improve housing for military personnel and their families following the buy-back of 36,000 forces homes earlier this year, according to Defence Secretary John Healey.

During Defence Questions in the House of Commons, Healey criticised the 1996 sale of military family homes under the previous Conservative government, calling it “probably the worst privatisation ever”.

“The Government were paying £600,000 a day to rent back the homes and then paying all the repair costs, with no power to plan or to do the major upgrades needed,” he told MPs.

Following the buy-back of the Annington homes in January, Healey confirmed that the defence housing review began in February, with plans to be published in the summer.

Lillian Jones MP (Lab, Kilmarnock and Loudoun) said military families make considerable sacrifices and deserve homes they can be proud of.

“Does he agree that the least we owe our servicemen and women is decent housing that they can proudly call home?” she asked.

Healey agreed, saying:

“My hon. Friend is right; the sacrifice that those who serve in uniform make to keep us all safe is exceptional. The least that their families deserve is a decent home—it is, after all, the heart of all our lives.”

He added that the buy-back of Annington homes marks a “decisive break with the past” and that the government will now focus on upgrading service accommodation.

Clive Jones MP (LD, Wokingham) raised concerns over empty MoD-owned homes at Arborfield garrison, where only a few houses remain occupied by service families while others are privately rented or left vacant.

“The Ministry of Defence owns more than 300 houses in the former Arborfield garrison in my constituency. Only a handful of them are occupied by service families; the remainder are let privately. But increasingly they are being left vacant, which, with the estate not being maintained, is affecting the lives of constituents,” he said.

He urged the MoD to speed up decision-making on the site to prevent further neglect and return the homes to the market.

Healey acknowledged the long-running issues of neglect in service housing, stating:

“The character of some of the neglect and decline that we have seen in our forces housing for so long, and the bind that previous Governments have been in, without the power or control to make the upgrades and plan for wholesale renewal for the future.”

He assured MPs that the housing review aims to tackle these issues, though he warned that long-standing problems cannot be fixed overnight.

“We are determined to do better than we have done in the past,” he said.