"Uninhabitable" Royal Navy, Army and RAF houses causing significant number of troops to leave the forces

This year’s Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey (CAS) highlighted that one in five respondents plan to step back from military careers. Out of that proportion of 9,360 people surveyed, over a quarter of them cited accommodation as the driving force behind their departure.

Liberal Democrat MP Helen Maguire said the statistics were a wakeup call. Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday )June 30), she added: “Our fantastic service personnel deserve more than short term fixes.”

What is the scale of the problem?

One of the main issues facing personnel is the time it takes for repairs and maintenance to be made. The annual Ministry of Defence (MoD) published survey said 34 per cent living in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) were satisfied, rising from 19 per cent last year.

Satisfaction with the overall standard of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) is at 51 per cent. The government has been pushing to improve the standard of properties. They purchased 36,347 properties from Annington, which included 501 in Portsmouth, 788 in Gosport and 348 in Fareham. Dozens of these are unable to house troops due to maintenance work and repairs. Gosport MP Dame Caroline Dinenage said many of them were deemed as being “unfit for human habitation”. Damp, mould and other issues plagued these houses.

Defence secretary John Healey, Labour, said the government is investing £7bn into military housing over the next five years. He added that a consumer charter has been implemented to enforce rights for occupants, which includes families having an individual housing officer to voice their concerns.

Ms Maguire said: “Will the government be u-turning on its decision to block Liberal Democrat proposals to bring all military housing under the Decent Home Standard?”

The defence secretary responded: “No one can describe the decision to buy back, out of private hands, 36,000 military family homes as a short term fix. Nobody can describe the consumers charter setting out basic housing rights and standards as a short term fix. No one can describe the Housing Review as a short term fix. The decent home standards is one standard. I think we can be doing better by our armed forces families “

Help to buy

The CAS survey found less than half of personnel - 46 per cent - own their home, which has fallen from 52 per cent in 2021. Affordability was the main reason for personnel not having a non-rented residence, with stability in location being the major driver behind families buying a property.

Dr Andrew Murrison, Conservative MP for Wiltshire, asked if the current Forces Help to Buy scheme was successful. Mr Healey responded: “Unfortunately, Forces Help To Buy hasn’t kept pace with the demand or the success of civilian programmes.

“It is part of the forces housing review which I’ve currently launched and I expect a report in the autumn. The aspirations of those who serve and join the services are exactly the same as every other working person in this country. We should try and make that part of the contract that this nation makes with those who serve in the future.”