New Defence Housing Service to put forces families first

• New standalone Defence Housing Service to put Forces First, prioritising needs of military personnel, families and veterans.

• New and renewed homes will meet modern property standards comparable to high-quality professional landlords.

• Defence Secretary to meet military families benefiting from improved accommodation.

A new Defence Housing Service will be the centrepiece of a 'Forces First' approach in the Government's new Defence Housing Strategy, launched today.

Armed Forces personnel and their families will benefit from a standalone Defence Housing Service, to better manage military homes while keeping them in public hands, putting the voices of forces families at the forefront and delivering new homeownership opportunities for military personnel and veterans.

Defence Secretary John Healey will visit newly improved service family accommodation in West London today alongside Armed Forces Minister Al Carns as the Government begins its major renewal programme. They will see works already underway and will meet Armed Forces families who have recently moved into refurbished properties with improvements including new kitchens, bathrooms and heating systems.

The new Defence Housing Service will be backed by record investment announced today, with £9 billion invested over the next decade to deliver on the vision of the Strategy.

In addition to the proposed Defence Housing Service, the Strategy also recommends a generational renewal of military housing and kickstarts a ten-year programme of housebuilding on surplus defence land to deliver for Britain. The 'Forces First' approach set out in the Strategy will also offer priority access to homes built for service personnel and veterans.

Defence Secretary John Healey MP said

Our British forces personnel and our veterans fulfil the ultimate public service. Our nation is rightly proud of them. And the very least they deserve is a decent home.

This new Strategy will embed a 'Forces First' approach that tells our forces, our veterans and their families: we are on your side.

We can't fix forces housing overnight, but this effort is already underway and will now accelerate. By creating a specialist Defence Housing Service, backed by record investment in military accommodation, we will deliver better value for the taxpayer and fulfil our promise to provide homes fit for heroes.

Minister for the Armed Forces, Al Carns, said:

Everyone who has served in uniform has been let down by substandard military accommodation, or knows someone who has. Having served in the Royal Marines for 24 years, I saw first-hand the impact this had on the morale of our British personnel.

Since entering government, we've acted rapidly to begin fixing the shameful legacy of unfit forces homes. This Strategy is the next step. And we will move at pace to implement it.

This is the product of months of hard graft and frank conversations with forces families. Our new Defence Housing Service - announced today - will put the voices of those families first, with a service ethos at its heart. This is a government that puts our forces first.

Rapid improvements are already underway through a Consumer Charter for Forces Families introduced earlier this year, new and upgraded military homes will meet modern property standards comparable to the best professional housing organisations, ensuring they are warm, spacious and of high quality.

As part of the Consumer Charter, the Ministry of Defence made a commitment to urgently upgrade homes most in need of refurbishment. Work to meet this commitment to is happening at pace with improvements to 1,000 homes across the UK being completed by the end of this year.

Outdated rules have also been scrapped, making it easier for families to keep pets, paint rooms in a greater choice of colours and for spouses to run a business from home.

The Defence Housing Strategy will be funded by investment of £9 billion over the next decade and delivers on commitments made in the Strategic Defence Review, which announced a record additional £1.5bn investment in military family accommodation in this parliament. This funding follows January's landmark deal to bring 36,000 military family homes back into public ownership.

The Strategy sets out proposals for a modern approach to allocating homes, improving forecasting and creating housing zones around operational hubs.

Delivering more homes, in the right places, also means that the Ministry of Defence can widen housing eligibility to more service personnel - such as couples in long-term relationships and those who are non-resident parents - to better reflect modern life. Building homes to meet the extra demand will take time, but in the interim, a rental support scheme will allow service personnel to rent privately while homes are made available.

While the Strategy focusses on family accommodation, the Ministry of Defence will also undertake an urgent review of Single Living Accommodation and proposals will also be developed to address the condition and service standards for overseas family homes.

As part of the Strategy's recommendations, Armed Forces personnel and veterans will receive priority access to homeownership opportunities when Defence sites are used for housebuilding. The 'Forces First' homeownership opportunities will apply to a proportion of new homes on selected surplus defence sites, agreed between MOD, the local authority and the developer based on demand and site viability.

Cat Calder, Army Families Federation Housing Specialist and review team member, said:

As a member of the review team, I have seen the depth and rigour of the work undertaken to identify the longstanding issues within military housing. This has not only highlighted the challenges that we have been raising on behalf of families for many years, but also delivered a clear and robust strategy to improve existing Service Family Accommodation and develop new housing that truly meets the needs of Service families.

I am pleased that the voices of families have been heard and acted upon, and I am optimistic about the potential for a transformative decade in military housing.