- Landmark deal struck to bring military housing estate back into public hands.
- Major deal unlocks new-build housing projects for military families plus essential refurbishments.
- End to huge annual rental bill to save around £230 million per year.
This week, the Labour government has announced it will fix military housing in Portsmouth and across the country.
A major deal to bring the Armed Forces housing estate back into public ownership has been agreed by the government. Billions of pounds will be saved by the deal over the next decade, delivering savings for taxpayers and enabling additional investment into homes for military families.
The landmark move reverses a sale undertaken by the then Government in 1996, which meant billions of pounds has been spent renting back military homes that they shouldn’t have sold in the first place.
Across the country, thousands of forces’ families are living with damp, mould and leaks after more than a decade of underinvestment in maintenance and repairs of these ageing homes.
In Portsmouth, the Labour government is going to buy back 650 homes from the private landlord that currently owns them. Taking back control of the military housing estate will save the taxpayer £230 million a year in rent. That’s £600,000 per day.
The Prime Minister has committed to ensuring homes fit for our heroes, and that is what we will deliver for our service families.
This deal will unlock a major programme of rebuilding and refurbishing military housing, and will help achieve the Prime Minister’s milestones on kickstarting economic growth and boosting housebuilding across the country.
Commenting, Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said:
“It shames our nation that in the lead up to Christmas, too many military families are living in sub-standard military housing.
“For the families of those who put themselves in harm’s way to keep our country safe, that is unacceptable.
“I have long campaigned for change and now it is coming. This announcement is a major step in ensuring homes fit for our heroes.”
Rt Hon John Healey MP, Secretary of State for Defence said:
“This deal shows our government is determined to deliver homes fit for our heroes. These important savings to the defence budget will help fix the deep-set problems we inherited.
“That money could have been spent on making forces’ housing fit for the future. Our Labour government has taken decisive action to reverse that deal, bringing military housing back into public hands and unlocking investment for the future.
“There is still a lot of work to do to deliver the homes our military families deserve, and these problems will not be fixed overnight. But this is a decisive break with the failed approach of the past and a major step forward on that journey.”
