The government has announced an extra £1.5billion in funding to improve accommodation for the UK Armed Forces.
The investment has been confirmed as part of the launch of the government’s upcoming Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which it says will help renew the nation’s contract with those who serve and support the government’s Plan for Change.
Through the upcoming SDR, more than £1.5billion of new investment into service family accommodation will be used to upgrade the poor state of existing forces housing.
This will include urgent repairs and maintenance to existing stock alongside the development of new forces housing, as part of unlocking the wider potential for housing development on surplus MOD land.
The additional funding for accommodation means more than £7billion will be spent across this Parliament on service family accommodation and new build single living accommodation which will aim to deliver a generational renewal of Armed Forces accommodation. This will be guided by the forthcoming Defence Housing Strategy which has already seen the announcement of a new Consumer Charter to strengthen housing standards for Armed Forces families.
Defence secretary, John Healey MP, said: “Our Armed Forces personnel make extraordinary sacrifices to serve our country.”
“For too long, many military families have lived in sub-standard homes, but this government is taking decisive action to fix the dire state of military accommodation and ensure that our heroes and their loved ones live in the homes they deserve.”
“We are investing and acting fast, to fix forces housing and renew the nation’s contract with those who serve and deliver on our Plan for Change.”
The delivery of the government’s new Consumer Charter will see immediate investment in the urgent renovation of 1,000 homes in most need of repair. The Charter will also see basic consumer rights rapidly introduced for Armed Forces families, including essential property information and higher move-in standards, more reliable repairs, a named housing officer for every family and access to a robust complaints system.
The investment follows the government’s deal to bring back 36,000 military homes into public ownership as part of the Prime Minister’s pledge to deliver higher-quality homes for those in the UK Armed Forces.
