In Appropriations Hearing, Rep. Susie Lee Advocates for Military Housing Improvements, Increased Transparency

Press Release

In today's hearing for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies on Military Privatized Family Housing Oversight, U.S. Rep. Susie Lee (NV-03) advocated for increased transparency and military housing improvements, and questioned Brian Stann, President/CEO for Hunt Military Communities, which oversees the privatized family housing at Nellis Air Force Base. She also directed questions to Patricia Coury, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Housing.

Rep. Lee addressed the adoption of the Tenant Bill of Rights and questioned Patricia Coury, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Housing, about the long wait times reported for some resident services:

Rep. Lee -- "We have Creech and Nellis Air Force Base, and I'm actually happy to report, that having just visited those bases, that with their privatized housing, we're not hearing some of the stories like we heard earlier today. But I wanted to direct some, I guess, higher-level questions to you. In your testimony, Ms. Coury, you stated, that, of the importance of rebuilding the trust in the military housing privatization initiative, and I share that interest here. Can you expand on your efforts on what you're doing, actively, to engage military families about their concerns and also reinforcing the Bill of Rights?

Deputy Assistant Secretary Patricia Coury -- "Sure, that's a great question. So I would say each of the military departments in the services have done a lot to try to increase their engagement with the families and of course, again, COVID has made it a little more challenging for one-on-one engagement and in-person town halls, but there have been a number of web-based town halls and meetings, where they can have an opportunity to talk to the families at large. But each of the military services have implemented a plain language briefing, which is one of the things required by the tenant Bill of Rights, but the resident government team has somebody meet with each family when they are entering their lease and then to touch base with them again, at usually 30, 60, and 90 days after lease signing to answer any questions … So they understand that and have a chance to ask questions, and again, they've also, the military departments have identified resident advocates that are at every installation, except in a few cases, where it's a very small site with very few homes and they might be sharing an advocate with another site and then that person might be kind of part-time between two locations. But we are trying very hard to make sure that they have a voice in and a way to get help and ask questions.

Rep. Lee -- "I just have one other question: We've been hearing about long wait times for military families in some housing locations. What is the department doing to respond to those needs?"

Deputy Assistant Secretary Patricia Coury -- "So, my counter office, the Under Secretary of Defense, Personnel, and Readiness, they have, you probably are aware, extended the temporary lodging allowances at some locations and then, October through December of last year, gave temporary increases in housing allowances at some locations where there was truly an issue with finding affordable, available housing with all of the rental price increases."

Rep. Lee challenged the sufficiency of the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) for Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI) projects and questioned Brian Stann, President/CEO, Hunt Military Communities, which oversees the privatized family housing at Nellis Air Force Base:

Rep. Lee -- "This is such an important hearing to have today. When we talk about our national security assets, nothing is more important than our men and women who serve and their families and making sure that they all have quality housing and resident services. So, I hope that we continue to work together to improve that experience. I will say I represent southern Nevada. We have Creech Air Force Base and Nellis and I must say I've heard from many families that they shared some positive experiences with their privatized military housing and, especially, the widespread adoption of the [Tenet] Bill of Rights. So I just, you know, I want to lay that out there, but also make sure that we're not complacent and we work so that we don't hear testimony like we heard from the first panel. To that end, I have a few questions to Mr. Stann, given your leadership of Hunt Military Communities, which oversees Nellis. You mentioned your efforts to invest in technology and communication platforms to enhance the living experience for Nellis families, and also to improve communication. Can you just expand on what that effort entails please?"

Brian Stann, Hunt Military Communities-- "Absolutely, Congresswoman.
And I appreciate very much your concern. I appreciate the question and excited to talk about this. We've already begun to implement a unified communication platform across all of our installations, all of our community centers, and
more sites. So that we could have centralized data down to every single phone call and have that recorded so that we could review it for customer service satisfaction levels. And for follow-on training with our employees. This will give us an insight into data in terms of how many phone calls we get every office, how long people have to until the phone is answered, if they left a voicemail how quickly we've gotten back to them … There is no complacency. This team needs to remain vigilant in all that we do."

Rep. Lee -- "Thank you. Is that information available? Like, will we be able to see that data?"

Brian Stann, Hunt Military Communities-- "Representative, I can make that available and I will follow up with your office to send it to you."

Rep. Lee -- "That would be helpful. Finally, I just want to focus on the housing allowance that, you know, enables you to meet your needs. Does the current BAH, is it sufficient for your housing needs and for home repairs and construction?

Brian Stann, Hunt Military Communities-- "Congresswoman, that is a phenomenal question and the answer is no. More importantly than our ability to conduct maintenance, and reinvest in these homes, it's our service members, as Miss Coury discussed, over 70% of our service members live off-base, and especially in southern Nevada, and Las Vegas, where rents have increased in double digit numbers year-over-year the last two years. That BAH has not been suitable for them to find adequate housing … If you look back, at the modeling of this business, the inception of the program, it was estimated that BAH would grow at 3% a year when they designed this business. It has been drastically under that annual increase, but what concerns me most isn't our business. What concerns me most is our force readiness and the fact that I've got friends who are still wearing uniforms, still serving, who can't rent a home since they can't afford it, so they're coming out to rent their homes or they're getting boxed out because VA loan is no longer taken because housing, or housing market is so hot that sellers don't want to deal with the process of VA loan and inspections."

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