Military Housing: Continued Concerns in Implementing the Privatization Initiative

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DOD) estimates that about 200,000 military family housing units are old, lack modern amenities, and require renovation or replacement. According to DOD, completing this work at current funding levels and using traditional military construction methods would take 30 years and cost about $16 billion. To improve housing more economically and faster than could be achieved if only traditional military construction funds were used, the Congress enacted legislation at DOD's request authorizing a 5-year pilot program, termed the Military Housing Privatization initiative, to allow private sector financing, ownership, operation, and maintenance of military housing. Under the program, starting in 1996, DOD can provide direct loans, loan guarantees, and other incentives to encourage private developers to construct and operate housing either on or off military installations. Servicemembers, in turn, use their housing allowance to pay rent and utilities to live in the privatized housing. Although there can be exceptions, DOD's position is that the government's estimated total costs for a privatization project should be equal to or less than the total costs for the same project financed by military construction funding. To estimate and compare these costs as part of a project's approval process prior to solicitation, the services perform a life-cycle cost analysis. In response to a congressional mandate,1 GAO addressed the following questions: (1) What is the status of the housing privatization initiative? (2) What is the accuracy of the services' life-cycle cost analyses that compare the cost of proposed privatization projects to comparable projects financed through military construction funds? (3) What progress is DOD making in coordinating and integrating the initiative with other family housing programs?

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA375326

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Base Closures
  • Business Administration
  • Congress
  • Cost Analysis
  • Cost Estimates
  • Department Of Defense
  • Economic Analysis
  • Employment
  • Law
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Families
  • National Security
  • Naval Air Stations
  • Naval Shore Facilities
  • Personnel Management
  • United States

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Housing Policy Studies in Military Families with Privatization and Telomerase Allowance Units, Multi-Family Housing, and Telomere Lengths.