Last week, U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., the chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, and U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the subcommittee, urged the Department of Defense to address the concerning U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study published last month that outlined alarming findings on the poor living conditions of U.S. military barracks and to ensure U.S. service members are provided with the quality housing they deserve.
The letter is below.
Dear Secretary Austin:
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study published last week outlines alarming findings on the poor living conditions of U.S. military barracks across the Department of Defense. The House Committee on Armed Services has long been concerned with the living conditions for our servicemembers, which is why the GAO study was mandated via the Joint Explanatory Statement that accompanied the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. The Committee is laser focused on addressing readiness issues across the department and living conditions are a crucial element that impacts the quality of life, recruitment, and retention of our service members. The troubling findings no doubt affect recruitment and retention – areas all services continue to struggle with.
The men and women in uniform that serve our nation are our greatest assets; we owe it to them to provide the necessary resources to defend our nation which includes, at the bare minimum, satisfactory living conditions.
The results of the GAO study are deeply concerning to the Committee. According to the study, servicemembers reported conditions that pose serious risks to their physical and mental health, including mold, broken fire alarm systems, and extreme temperatures among others. In one barracks, a bad odor was smelled throughout the housing, which was identified as methane gas leaking out of aging plumbing. In another barracks, a servicemember was hospitalized due to a respiratory illness attributed to mold. Most disturbingly, GAO was told that at one installation, servicemembers living in the barracks are responsible for cleaning biological waste that may remain in a room after a suicide. Reforms within the department are required to address poor barracks and sub-standard housing conditions and they must be enacted at a faster pace to address these issues.
The GAO study noted five areas of weaknesses across the department that need to be addressed in order to improve barracks living conditions and improve readiness levels across the force. These areas include uniformly assessing barracks conditions across the department, collecting information on the effects of barracks conditions, tracking and reporting funds spent on barracks, establishing fair policies, and providing proper oversight of the barracks programs. Additionally, the GAO published 31 recommendations for the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the military services to implement to address these persistent challenges across the five areas previously noted.
The Subcommittee on Readiness requests the Office of the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Military Departments, provide the subcommittee a briefing on the current conditions of barracks and corrective measures to address the persistent challenges that are outlined in the GAO study within 30 days of the receipt of this letter.
Chronic under-funding of infrastructure sustainment accounts has no doubt contributed to the steady decline in the quality of barracks and the poor living conditions our servicemembers must endure. Your attention to this request will allow the Subcommittee on Readiness to provide effective oversight of these activities and ensure our service members are provided with the quality housing they deserve.
For any coordination on this matter or to ask any related follow-up questions, please contact Patrick Nevins of the Committee on Armed Services Majority Staff or Jeanine Womble of the Committee on Armed Services Minority Staff.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Author
