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UK Unveils £9bn Overhaul of Military Housing With New Defence Housing Service

Ministers frame the move as a fix for years of underinvestment that hurt morale and retention.

Overview

  • Government published the Defence Housing Strategy, launching a 10‑year plan to modernise more than 40,000 service family homes, with about 14,000 to be substantially refurbished or replaced.
  • A new arm’s‑length Defence Housing Service will manage accommodation in public ownership after repeated complaints that the MoD failed personnel on housing standards.
  • The strategy seeks to enable over 100,000 new homes on surplus MoD land, with a proposed Defence Development Fund to recycle development proceeds into future projects.
  • Immediate steps include works under a Consumer Charter to upgrade around 1,000 homes by year‑end, wider eligibility for service housing to long‑term partners and non‑resident parents, and an interim rental support scheme.
  • The programme builds on the Annington Homes deal that returned 36,000 properties to public ownership and is paired with an urgent review of single living accommodation.