Defence Secretary John Healey has pledged to “stop the rot” in military housing through a new consumer charter aiming to improve living conditions for personnel and their families.
Alongside the charter, the Government announced the members of an independent review team tasked with creating a wider defence housing strategy, which will be chaired by former MP Natalie Elphicke Ross.
Ms Elphicke Ross was elected as the Conservative MP for Dover in 2019, but defected to Labour in the final weeks of the Tories’ tenure in government.
In May 2024, she campaigned alongside Sir Keir Starmer in her constituency and criticised former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s “tired and chaotic government”.
The defence housing strategy, which the Ministry of Defence (MoD) says will be published later this year, will set out further plans aimed at improving the standard of service family housing.
The new consumer charter for housing commits to higher move-in standards, more reliable repairs, and a named housing officer for every family.
Mr Healey said: “Our armed forces serve with extraordinary dedication and courage to keep us safe. It is only right that they and their families live in the homes they deserve.
“For too long, military families have endured substandard housing without the basic consumer rights that any of us should expect in our homes.
“That must end and our new consumer charter will begin to stop the rot and put families at the heart of that transformation.
“We cannot turn around years of failure on forces housing overnight, but by bringing 36,000 military homes back into public ownership, we’ve already taken greater control and are working at pace to drive up standards.
“This is about providing homes fit for the heroes who serve our nation, and I’m determined to deliver the decent, affordable housing that our forces families have every right to expect.”
The charter also commits to raising the minimum standard of forces family housing with a new programme of works targeted at homes deemed to be in the worst condition, with up to 1,000 refurbished.
Ms Elphicke Ross said: “Our pride in our armed forces must include pride in our military homes. Delivering better housing, boosting home ownership opportunities for service personnel and improving the experiences of service families will be at the heart of our work.”
Previously, Ms Elphicke Ross chaired the New Homes Quality Board on standards and redress for customers of new-build homes, and co-chaired the Elphicke-House Report 2015 on the role of local authorities in housing supply.
