Thousands of British military personnel and their families will have their lives improved through more than £1.5 billion of additional funding to improve accommodation for the UK Armed Forces.
The investment is part of the launch of the Government’s upcoming Strategic Defence Review (SDR), helping renew the nation’s contract with those who serve, supporting the government’s Plan for Change.
Through the SDR more than £1.5 billion of new investment into service family accommodation will unlock rapid work to tackle the poor state of forces housing – with investment increasing from this year – helping to support recruitment, retention and morale.
This will include urgent repairs and maintenance, from fixing unreliable boilers and leaky roofs to tackling damp and mould in service family accommodation, alongside development of new forces housing, as part of unlocking the wider potential for housing development on surplus MOD land.
The additional funding for accommodation means more than £7 billion will be spent across this Parliament on service family accommodation and new build single living accommodation to deliver a generational renewal of Armed Forces accommodation. This will be guided by the forthcoming Defence Housing Strategy – which is proceeding at pace and has already seen the announcement of a new Consumer Charter to strengthen housing standards for forces families.
The SDR will set a path for the next decade to transform defence and make the UK secure at home and strong abroad. It will end the hollowing out of our Armed Forces and make defence an engine for growth across the UK.
Defence Secretary, John Healey MP said:
“Our Armed Forces personnel make extraordinary sacrifices to serve our country. For too long, many military families have lived in sub-standard homes, but this government is taking decisive action to fix the dire state of military accommodation and ensure that our heroes and their loved ones live in the homes they deserve.”
