Inside Britain's deteriorating military housing as Labour vows to stop the rot

Defence Secretary John Healey has announced a new ‘consumer charter’ for the UK’s armed forces, aiming to improve living conditions for personnel and their families.

Alongside the charter, the Government confirmed the members of an independent review team tasked with creating a wider defence housing strategy, which will be chaired by former MP Natalie Elphicke Ross.

Elphicke Ross was elected as the Conservative MP for Dover in 2019 but defected to Labour in the final weeks of the Tories’ tenure in Government.

In May 2024, she campaigned alongside Sir Keir Starmer in her constituency and criticised former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s “tired and chaotic Government”.

The Defence Housing Strategy, which the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed would be published later this year, will set out further plans aimed at improving the standard of service family housing.

The new consumer charter for housing commits to higher move-in standards, more reliable repairs, and a named housing officer for every family.

GB News accompanied the Minister for Veterans and People, Al Carns, as he toured a military house estate at Bovington camp in Dorset, home to the headquarters of the Royal Armoured Corps.

• ‘They’re in panic mode!' Reform slams ‘lying’ Labour after voters receive fake £75k medical bills
• Britons need to 'fight back' against efforts to erase Easter and support British culture
• Rachel Reeves to hold UK-US trade war crunch talks in White House BUT Trump in 'no rush' for deal

The Minister was shown around two housing units in need of urgent repair, and typical of thousands of homes within the Ministry of Defence that have suffered from years of neglect and underfunding.

In January, the Labour Government completed the return of 36,000 British military homes back into public ownership.

The Veterans Minister was also shown around another military home at Bovington, which had been recently refurbished, part of the first wave of 1,000 military homes being urgently upgraded.

Al Carns told GB News the MoD was working at pace to ensure service personnel had decent living accommodation.

“We’ve seen some housing today that has been empty for three to six months, and I’ve just seen one that’s been refurbished really fast.

“We’re moving as fast as we can. We’ve already said 1,000 properties will be brought up to standard to get more people into accommodation, and then the defence housing strategy is going to give us our medium to long-term strategy - it’s going to look at the whole estate across 30,000+ houses.”

But the Minister warned there would be no quick fix to years of neglect and underinvestment.

“What I would say to those individuals joining, or those individuals that are still in, this Government is absolutely committed to bringing the accommodation up to standard.

“This doesn’t move fast, but they absolutely have my word and the Government’s word, we’re going to bring the standard up and deliver the deal they deserve.”

Defence Secretary John Healey said: “Our armed forces serve with extraordinary dedication and courage to keep us safe.

“It is only right that they and their families live in the homes they deserve.

“For too long, military families have endured substandard housing without the basic consumer rights that any of us should expect in our homes.

“That must end, and our new consumer charter will begin to stop the rot and put families at the heart of that transformation.

“We cannot turn around years of failure on forces housing overnight, but by bringing 36,000 military homes back into public ownership, we’ve already taken greater control and are working at pace to drive up standards.

“This is about providing homes fit for the heroes who serve our nation, and I’m determined to deliver the decent, affordable housing that our forces families have every right to expect.”

Elphicke Ross said: “Our pride in our armed forces must include pride in our military homes.

“Delivering better housing, boosting home ownership opportunities for service personnel, and improving the experiences of service families will be at the heart of our work.”

In February, the Prime Minister announced that UK military spending would be increased to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027, worth an additional £13.4billion year on year.

But ministers acknowledge, the state of service accommodation is just as important as the latest weaponry to ensure military chiefs can recruit and retain Britain’s front-line forces.