A PLAN FOR ACTION: HOW THE DOD BEGINS SYSTEMATICALLY ADDRESSING THE HOUSING FAILURES OF TODAY TO PRESERVE THE NATIONAL DEFENSE OF TOMORROW

Abstract

Military family housing programs are in crisis, the product of a policy-strategy mismatch resulting from competing interests among the United States Congress, Department of Defense, private real-estate developers, and the military members and families who rely on military housing. Through a policy-centered literature review, survey instrument, and analysis, this thesis investigates the mismatch and its impacts on military member and family health and readiness. Responses to this study’s survey and research sample suggest that few differences exist between respondents of military family housing and residents of local civilian community housing, with the most significant supported finding being that military housing respondents’ air-filtration maintenance occurs less often than that of local community housing. The overall findings suggest that the survey instrument, with minor improvements, could be used to acquire accurate and actionable data related to occupant health, well-being, and readiness, with the intrinsic benefit of serving as a rubric to gauge achievement of current housing and readiness policies. Succinctly put, the study’s survey instrument could easily be used by housing tenants, providers, and support staff as a near-definitive physical inspection diagnostic tool to identify physically observable indicators and building assemblage characteristics commonly observed, known, and associated with unsafe and unhealthy housing conditions.