The Pentagon budget moving through Congress would provide a major boost to a Navy plan to privatize barracks housing for junior sailors.
The $380 million in federal funding would be seed money for a $1.3 billion privatization initiative at the Navy’s major bases in the Hampton Roads region of eastern Virginia. Under the plan, 14 barracks would be turned over to a private contractor.
In September 2024, Navy Fleet and Family Readiness Director Leslie Gould called the project the "largest swing of any service" to privatize barracks housing.
A 2023 Government Accountability Office report found that the Department of Defense was running a $137 billion backlog of deferred maintenance, with substandard barracks throughout the system. In an inspection of barracks at ten military bases nationwide, the GAO found widespread problems such as mold, broken windows, and inoperable fire systems.
Rob Evans is a former National Guard and reserve soldier. Two years ago, he started Hots and Cots, an influential blog that lets young troops rate their living conditions. From Fort Hood to Naval Station Norfolk, troops post pictures showing the condition of their rooms and rate the food in the dining facility.
"I'm finding that there's a lot of barracks in poor conditions — mold, A/C is not working," Evans said.
The Navy's plan would allow a private contractor to renovate and run more than 2000 beds at Naval Air Station Oceana, Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, and Naval Station Norfolk. Private firms also would build and operate a new 1,500-bed barracks at Newport News Shipyard and a nearly 4,000-bed facility at Naval Station Norfolk.
The Army is looking at similar projects, though Hampton Roads would be the largest example in the military.
But Evans says he’s not sure privatizing the barracks is the best way to fix the Navy’s housing problem.
"I understand that military construction takes a long time. It's expensive," he said. "We need to stop taking money away from facilities management. The Secretary of Defense did this to fund the border mission."
Military.com reported in May that the Army is moving more than a billion dollars from barracks improvements and other projects to fund the border security operation.
Gould said in 2024 that the Navy sees privatization as a faster route to improve conditions in the barracks.
"I think going this route allows for greater flexibility for the amenities that a sailor will need for quality of life than what the Navy can do," she said.
Corey Titus with The Military Officers Association is worried that the military is about to repeat the problems that happened when the Pentagon began privatizing on-base family housing in the 1996.
"There were some noticeable improvements right off the bat, but now, a few decades later, we're seeing the same problems repeating themselves," Titus said.
Over the past decade, complaints against companies running military family housing pushed Congress to create a "tenants bill of rights" and other measures.
Titus says some of those same companies want to run private barracks.
"Our concern is with how this gets structured," Titus said. "What are the lessons learned from this initiative, and what's going to be done differently if we're going to go down this path again?"
The Air Force is also looking at privatizing its dormitories for young airmen, especially in remote places or areas with high rent. A project is in the works at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
The Marines are the lone hold-out. General Thomas Armas, Deputy Commander of U.S Marine Forces Command, said the Marine Corps doesn’t want to be put in a situation where Marines can be assigned quarters based on where a private contractor has an opening.
"You've got the small unit leadership that builds camaraderie, that helps look out for each other," he said. "It's part of the whole Marine concept that we keep those units together, versus sprinkling them around the base, wherever there happens to be rooms available."
Marine First Lieutenant Thomas Garbee showed off a barracks that opened at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in Virginia in 2023.
"We have a nice area for them to sit and a common space to hang out and do what Marines do and B.S. with each other in the evenings," he said.
The barracks look almost like a college dorm with kitchenettes and private showers. A large weight room is on the first floor.
Garbee said the project was first approved in 2008.
"That's when it started to go through all the planning process, presented to Congress for funding, etc. It is a long process," he said.
This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans.
