Pentagon locked itself into another 50+-year lease, preventing it from holding private housing providers accountable for poor living conditions
Response from the Department of Defense (PDF)
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, published new responses from the Department of Defense (DoD) revealing the Department has entered into another 50-year-lease with its privatization of military barracks at Fort Irwin, California, removing accountability measures and threatening to cause housing quality problems for service members.
“The Department of Defense has a responsibility to make sure our service members have a safe place to live that’s free from mold, pests, and broken sewage pipes. Instead, it’s giving up its tools to hold exploitative companies accountable and risking service members being forced to live in dangerous barracks,” said Senator Warren. “The Department needs to learn from its past mistakes and stop handcuffing itself with 50-year leases.”
The new information came as a response to Senator Warren’s September letter pressing DoD on the privatization of military barracks, including in Fort Irwin, California. Senator Warren has warned that decades-long leases—which DoD has used in the past for privatization of military family housing—have resulted in poor housing conditions and limited the DoD’s ability to hold failed private housing providers accountable.
The Pentagon’s responses revealed:
- The Department has locked itself into an over 50+-year lease – running through the year 2079 – at Fort Irwin, which will make it harder to hold the private housing provider accountable for inadequate living conditions;
- The Department did not provide clarity on its willingness to use all tools available to hold private military housing providers accountable for poor living conditions. DoD provided no specific accountability measures beyond withholding award incentive fees when providers fail to meet partnership agreement requirements; and
- The Department is limiting its ability to fight back against private military providers, by allowing its partnership agreement with the Michaels Organization to restrict its ability to change terms and hold companies accountable, even if they commit wrongdoing. Specifically, the agreement does “not include or require explicit change clauses for the benefit of the government.”
Senator Warren’s investigations of private military housing have repeatedly found service members are forced to live in troubling conditions, including black mold, rodents, insect infestations, lead paint, damaged plumbing, and ineffective HVAC units.
These poor living conditions are locked in because DoD signs 50-year leases, weakening its ability to hold private housing providers accountable.
On Wednesday, Senator Warren will lead a bipartisan hearing on service member quality of life in the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel.
Senator Warren has consistently fought to improve living standards for service members and their families:
- On September 29, 2025, Senator Warren pressed Department Secretary Pete Hegseth for answers about the potential privatization of military barracks, given the long history of substandard conditions and exploitative practices by providers of privatized military family housing.
- On April 8, 2025, Senator Warren pressured Trump’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, Dale Marks, to commit to holding private military landlords accountable for housing violations.
- On February 4, 2025, Senators Warren and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) urged the Department of Defense to investigate whether landlords were utilizing RealPage’s software to artificially raise rents for military families.
- On December 12, 2024, Senator Warren and Representative Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) reintroduced the Military Housing Oversight and Service Member Protection Act that would overhaul our privatized military housing system.
- On September 27, 2024, Senators Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced the Restore Military Families’ Voice Act, which would prevent private military housing companies from forcing non-disclosure agreements on military families.
- On April 19, 2024, Senator Warren questioned Army Secretary Christine Wormuth over military housing availability and the impact of non-disclosure agreements between private military housing companies and military families.
- In December 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren and other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressing concern over reports that military families are being forced to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with privatized military housing companies in order to receive compensation for poor housing conditions.
- On May 1, 2019, Senator Warren released the findings of a 3-month investigation into the housing conditions of privatized military residences.
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