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Eagle BELVOIR
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March 21, 2019
Senators, SecArmy hear housing concerns By Adrienne Anderson and Paul Lara
S
en. Mark Warner, Sen. Tim Kaine and Secretary of the Army Mark Esper visited Fort Belvoir, March 14, to meet with military families about housing conditions on post, and Army and garrison leaders’ plans to address and fix the issues. The senators are drafting legislation to allow tenants in Army contracted housing and Army leaders the authority to hold companies responsible for failure to maintain the housing, and to amend housing contracts. If the legislation is passed, companies who don’t resolve issues or meet expectations will not get paid.
Tenant Bill of Rights Esper is drafting a Tenant Bill of Rights that matches what offpost housing already has to abide by. “I applaud Secretary Esper and the Army,” Kaine said. “They have come up with a draft Tenant Bill of Rights, a bill of rights that allows
Photo by Staff Sgt. Nicole Mejia
Sen. Tim Kaine, left, speaks with the press alongside Army Secretary Mark Esper, center, and Sen. Mark Warner, right, at the Fort Belvoir Officers' Club, March 14, after listening to military families in a sensing session talk about persistent housing problems. anyone who lives in military housing an understanding of
what they should be able to expect while living there. We’re going to be working on that and other initiatives with the Armed Services Committee to try to provide relief to these families.”
Better Oversight Needed
Photo by Staff Sgt. Nicole Mejia
Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, Army Secretary Mark Esper and Col. Michael Greenberg, Fort Belvoir Garrison commander, speak with a military family about their housing issues on post.
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Levels of Escalation to Resolve Housing
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Taste of Belvoir
Warner recalled, after listening t o t h e f a m i l i e s ’ s t o r i e s, h i s disappointment in the lack of oversight. “We somehow have to put in place enough ongoing oversight, so this doesn’t fall off the priority list,” Warner said. Esper’s business experience, Warner said, allows him to “know what we need to do to get tough.” What is needed is accountability, he said, adding that accountability National Military Family Association visits FBES
includes “withholding payments to these private companies, if they’re not providing customer service.” “It’s got to be, as well, making sure that we use modern technology. The fact that there’s not a userfriendly app where [the tenant] can take a picture of their problem, have a period where [maintenance] is going to come by and fix it, and then be able to have a followthrough loop so that once repaired, you’ve got a record of what they did or didn’t do – that’s not rocket science,” the senator said. If you have an unresolved housing issue, implement the Levels of Escalation found on page A-2. You can also find them on the garrison commanders Facebook page at www.facebook. com/ftbelvoirgc/.
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