Armed forces families in military homes will see a major boost from Labour’s new plan to end the scandal of poor-quality military housing.
Published this week, the new Defence Housing Strategy will see the Government invest a record £9 billion over the next decade to deliver homes fit for our heroes. The plan delivers on Labour’s commitment to our forces – and their families – who make huge sacrifices to keep Britain safe.
The Government have committed to upgrading and modernising 9 in 10 forces family homes, and the creation of a new Defence Housing Service to better support military families.
These plans were made possible by Labour’s deal to bring 36,000 forces family homes back into public ownership earlier this year. This ended a disastrous 1996 Tory privatisation of military housing which cost the taxpayer billions. Labour’s landmark buy-back saved over £200 million per year in rent payments, savings which are now being reinvested in fixing forces homes.
The plan delivers on Labour’s manifesto commitment to back Britain’s Armed Forces community after years of chronic underinvestment by the Conservatives left satisfaction with service accommodation at record lows – driving down military morale driving many to leave the forces.
Labour’s 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.”
Key points of the Defence Housing Strategy include:
1) A generational renewal of military housing – 9 in 10 military homes (over 40,000 houses) will be modernised or upgraded to new, higher standards, with 14,000 homes rebuilt or substantially refurbished, funded by the Government’s record uplift in Defence spending.
2) A ‘Forces First’ approach – underpinned by a new, 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.
3) Delivering for the nation – kickstarting a historic programme of housebuilding on surplus Defence land, with the potential for over 100,000 new homes for civilian and military families, delivering billions of pounds in economic output and supporting thousands of jobs. This is another example of Defence as an engine for growth.
Under the Conservatives, satisfaction with the standard of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) fell to record lows in 2023, while the Defence Select Committee reported that two thirds of SFA was ‘essentially no longer fit for purpose’. The Committee found that quality of housing was having a significant impact on Armed Forces recruitment, retention and morale.
The Defence Housing Strategy plan is funded by Labour’s historic commitment to raise defence spending to 2.6% of GDP by 2027, to meet this new era of threat and back the outstanding men and women of our Armed Forces. The Labour government has already delivered the largest pay rise for Armed Forces personnel in over 20 years.