Posted on 09/07/2019 7:48:39 AM PDT by GreyFriar
An inspector general’s review of poor housing conditions in privatized Army homes paints a picture of widespread confusion about roles and responsibilities, poor inspection practices and fundamental oversight weaknesses as factors that led to substandard living conditions in family housing across the service.
Some of the problems were caused by budget cuts over the last several years, but some are baked-in to how the Army has managed the Residential Communities Initiative (RCI) since its inception in the late 1990s, according to the IG report the Army released Thursday.
In surveys and site visits to 49 different bases, each garrison commander auditors spoke to said they’d received inadequate or no training at all on the RCI program. And few of the installation officials responsible for overseeing housing companies’ performance on a day-to-day basis had an adequate working knowledge of Army policies on the program or the Army’s contracts with its housing providers.
The IG found that’s partly because the policies themselves are confusing and don’t adequately spell out base commanders’ authorities to enforce their contracts with housing providers, but also partly because installation-level officials didn’t even have access to the documents that governed their business agreements with the private companies.
(Excerpt) Read more at federalnewsnetwork.com ...
Military Housing Ping
Government.
My wife was an AF brat at Ladd AFB (now Fort Wainwright) in Fairbanks, AK in the late 50’s/early 60’s in on-base housing, those two-story, long apartment building types. She said they were told it dated from WWII.
Her father was a Senior Master Sergeant so it was pretty nice, but she said they were responsible for repairs, painting, etc., though they were given the materials.
They were still in use when we visited in 1998, but were finally being replaced when we visited again in 2008.
Military housing is for those with higher rank and families.
Singles go to barracks for the most part unless they rent off base. We have 3 trailer parks most of the lower ranks rent there. 2-3 people depending on the size you want.
Barracks are old WW 2 era. And Nothing is cheap on the Navy base. You see more in Uniform at Walmart and Kroger’s.
An apartment complex in Southern CA near a Marine base tried to to rip me off on my deposit. I found out other complexes were doing this. Both unethical and illegal practices, particularly preying upon the Marines that moved frequently.
I called the base liaison officer and he basically said there was nothing he could do.
I’m quite familiar with Army housing after 20 years of enlisted and commissioned service. Back in the 70’s and 80’s married E-4s on a 3 year tour in Germany qualified for military housing. That was my first experience with it.
So nothing new, then. I recall the complaints and newspaper/TV stories about poor conditions in family housing on Fort Meade, MD ten years ago, when I lived nearby.
My company had just hired a retired Maj General (2 star) who was still living on Fort Meade. Even he complained about his quarters.
Major problem is code enforcement.
The civilian operated housing doesn’t fall under the jurisdiction of the military code enforcement any more, but since they are on military bases, they generally don;t fall under the jurisdiction of municipalities or county enforcement agencies.
Over time, regimentalism builds up when the civilian organizations and personnel outlast the military officer ranks overseeing their contracts.
Meanwhile, the contract oversight personnel aren’t architectural, engineering, nor construction oriented, so they don’t know what the codes require.
I’ve seen lots of construction actions by these housing contractors which would have had them removed from the industry by the state and OSHA for gross unsafe practice.
They also lack common sense.
Such as: Excavating with 24”dia auger, 10 ft deep, within 6” of underground Elec 12.47kV ductbanks and between secondary 480V UG conductors they threaded through existing irrigation handholes, only idetified by DigAlert, without drawings and only toning with over 12 different elec systems within a 20 ft swath of an utility easement. They hit one 4/0 UG conductor which had been buried in place and luckily had been abandoned and not energized at the time. Then they wanted to shift their excavation 6” to miss the conductor.
This was without any drawings, unapproved construction, digging in a utilities easement ROW without permission and even when denied. Utilities had been parked out, +/- 3to5 ft, and same Design-Build firm that now manages the housing failed to follow the design, didn’t mark underground utilities, was supposed to remove demo’d lines, but instead descoped the demolition and removal and abandoned the unmarked 12.47kV UG primary and 480V/208V secondary in place, skew to new 12.47kV primary conductors and 208V UG secondaries, then threaded the new UG elec through any handholes they found including irrigation control and CATV handholes along with their new adjacent Elec handholes.
So while the utility had to suit up in 40cal suits to test the circuit, to confirm the UG 4/0 conductor was de-energized, the contractor then simply buried the exposed conductor and back-bladed the site, then asked to shift his excavation 6” to 24” into 480V UG ductbanks.
Absolutely nuts. I’ve never seen anybody in construction so nonchalant regarding electrical safety hazards. Most people that stupid either avoid it altogether or become Darwin Award recipients.
Went through several tiers in a chain of command and it basically died out with no action since nobody was injured and nobody had funds to address.
The problem will fix itself well within 3yrs as PCS' occur.
Years ago (before Marine Chevrolet), a previous dealership was run out of Jacksonville for unfair practices targeting Marines. Every week the off-limits establishment list is published in the local paper.
I don't live in Jville anymore, but last I was there, many of the tobacco stores that opened were also blacklisted for selling spice and other synthetic drugs. If the establishment wanted off the list, they had to query the base and undergo inspection.
If a Marine is caught violating the order = Article 92 and punishable under the UCMJ, which is a strong incentive for compliance.
Of course the weak kneed "leadership" that was at Lejeune when I was there last caved into the Onslow County's Sheriff's office and began requiring Marines to obtain a "command letter" before getting approved for a CCW. Even though the requirement is not law, and not required of civilians.
Point being the commands can have a lot of impact on unfair practices......if they want to.
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