- New homes for Armed Forces families and veterans as Labour develops surplus MoD land for housing.
- ‘Forces First’ proposals form part of upcoming Defence Housing Strategy to renew military housing after years of Tory failure.
- Follows Labour’s historic deal to buy back 36,000 military family homes.
Portsmouth MP Stephen Morgan has backed Labour plans to deliver new homeownership opportunities for Armed Forces’ families and veterans as part of a drive to boost housebuilding on Ministry of Defence land.
John Healey, Labour’s Defence Secretary, will announce the new ‘Forces First’ approach in a speech to Labour Party conference on Monday.
The move will see a presumption for Armed Forces personnel and veterans to receive priority access through ‘first dibs’ on new homes built on surplus MoD land.
It will also see high quality new Service Family Accommodation (SFA) for serving personnel to rent, as Labour works to ‘stop the rot’ of poor military housing and turn around years of falling military morale under the Tories.
The measures would apply to a proportion of new homes on selected sites, agreed between MoD, the local authority and the developer based on demand and site viability.
The ‘Forces First’ proposals form part of the upcoming Defence Housing Strategy which will deliver a generational renewal of Armed Forces housing, while supporting a drive to supercharge housebuilding on surplus Defence land, delivering high quality affordable homes for working families across Britain. The Defence Secretary has identified the long-term potential for over 100,000 homes on repurposed Defence land.
As part of the upcoming strategy, Labour will deliver a ‘Forces First’ approach to all housing developments on unused MoD land: prioritising forces families and veterans for homeownership opportunities and delivering high-quality service family accommodation.
A trailblazer for this approach is already underway at MOD Feltham in south-west London, where the MOD, the London Borough of Hounslow and the GLA have agreed to adopt a ‘Forces First’ approach as part of a groundbreaking partnership to develop the site. Once vacated, this new development alone is expected to deliver hundreds of homes and jobs. Under the new approach, the aim will be for a portion of the homes to have first priority for military personnel or veterans, including some of the intermediate affordable housing built on site.
This has been made possible due to the Labour Government’s historic deal to buy-back 36,000 military family homes, reversing a failed Tory privatisation which had left military homes in an appalling state and saving the taxpayer billions of pounds in rental payments.
As part of the landmark Strategic Defence Review, the Labour government committed to increasing investment into military family housing by £1.5billion across this Parliament to help overhaul the standard of military homes after 14 years of Tory underinvestment. Earlier this year, Labour announced a new ‘Consumer Charter’ for forces homes, driving higher move-in standards, more reliable repairs, renovation of the worst homes, and a named housing officer for every family.
Commenting, Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said:
“After a decade of underinvestment under the previous Government, far too many forces’ families in Portsmouth have been forced to live in sub-standard accommodation.
“That’s why I have long campaigned for change and why I’m pleased it is now coming. After just one year of Labour Government, we have bought back 650 military homes in Portsmouth from the private landlord, ensuring these become homes fit for our heroes.
“Now we are ensuring Armed Forces personnel and veterans receive first dibs on new homes built on surplus MoD land.”
John Healey MP, Labour’s Defence Secretary, said:
“Armed Forces housing was left in a shameful state by the Conservatives, hammering morale and driving a recruitment and retention crisis in our Forces.
“In our first year in office, Labour began the hard work to stop the rot and start the renewal of Armed Forces housing. We will turbocharge building on Defence land to deliver new homes for both our service personnel and for civilian families across Britain.
“This has all been unlocked by our historic deal to buy back 36,000 military family homes, reversing a failed Tory privatisation and saving the taxpayer billions.”
