Senators Reverend Warnock, Cruz Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Military Housing

U.S. Senators Reverend Warnock (D-GA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced new bipartisan bill to help improve military housing by strengthening transparency about military housing conditions

The Military Housing Performance Insight (MHPI) Act will increase transparency, support oversight efforts, and address long standing issues in military housing quality and safety

A stalwart champion for Georgia's veterans, military families and servicemembers, Senator Warnock has actively worked in the Senate to strengthen federal support for Georgia's military communities

Last year, Senators Reverend Warnock and Cruz urged the Depart of Defense (DOD) to reevaluate the basic allowance for housing (BAH) rates for Coast Guard members

Senator Reverend Warnock also introduced the bipartisanBasic Allowance for Housing (BAH) Restoration Actto help servicemembers and their families make ends meet by restoring the full BAH benefit

Senator Reverend Warnock: "Our servicemembers and their families deserve safe, quality housing. That is why I am proud to join Senator Cruz on this bipartisan effort to ensure transparency and accountability needed to maintain high standards in military housing"

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced bipartisan legislation that will help improve military housing conditions for servicemembers by requiring the Department of Defense (DOD) to publicly release existing reports on privatized family housing on military installations. The Military Housing Performance Insight (MHPI) Act is aimed at increasing transparency, supporting oversight efforts, and addressing long standing issues in military housing quality and safety.

"Our servicemembers and their families deserve safe, quality housing. That is why I am proud to join Senator Cruz on this bipartisan effort to ensure transparency and accountability needed to maintain high standards in military housing," said Senator Warnock."By making these reports publicly accessible, we can better empower military families and communities to advocate for their needs effectively."

"Texas is proud to be the home of 15 military installations and over 100,000 active-duty servicemembers, many of whom live in private military housing. In recent years, the Department of Defense's private military housing offerings have fallen short, resulting in many servicemembers and their families living in substandard conditions," said Senator Cruz. "I am proud to join Sen. Warnock in introducing the Military Housing Performance Insight (MHPI) Act, which will increase transparency about the quality and conditions of private military housing on installations. Our servicemembers deserve better, and public accountability is the first step to addressing those issues."

The Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI) refers to reforms and authorities granted to the DOD in the 1990s, allowing the privatization of military family housing on installations (also known as "on-post family housing"). Since Congressional hearings in 2019 exposed severe deficiencies in the quality and safety of on-post housing, there have been efforts to improve conditions. However, ongoing issues persist at installations across Georgia.

Despite numerous initiatives and improvements over the past five years due to focused Congressional and DOD oversight, continued vigilance is necessary to sustain these gains. The frequent movement of local military installation leaders, mandated by the Permanent Change of Station (PCS) process, often disrupts institutional knowledge and can reduce command attention to housing problems.

To ensure continued focus on on-post housing issues, the MHPI Act democratizes oversight through transparency. By making current quality information of military housing publicly available, military families, advocacy groups, and communities can hold local commands and housing management companies accountable. Current Congressional reporting requirements on MHPI quality are limited to SASC and are often one-time reports. The new bipartisan legislation mandates annual, publicly accessible reports to sustain improvements and democratize oversight.

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