- New UK Government strategy to deliver ‘generational renewal’ to fix UK military housing and get Britain building, backed by £9bn investment.
- Wales will benefit from the biggest upgrade to Armed Forces housing in over half a century as more than 40,000 military homes across the UK are modernised, refurbished or rebuilt.
- Strategy unlocks one of Britain’s most ambitious housebuilding programmes in decades, with new homes for civilian and military families on surplus Defence land.
Armed Forces personnel and their families in Wales will benefit from the most significant transformation of UK military housing in more than 50 years, with more than 40,000 service family homes across the UK to be modernised, refurbished or rebuilt.
They will also benefit from a standalone Defence Housing Service, to better manage military homes while keeping them in public hands, putting the voices of forces families at the forefront and delivering new homeownership opportunities for military personnel and veterans.
The new Defence Housing Strategy, to be published by the Government on Monday, is backed by £9 billion investment and will also turbocharge the use of surplus defence land as part of the Government’s promise to get Britain building the housing we need to boost growth in every corner of the country.
Defence Secretary John Healey has identified the long-term opportunity to build over 100,000 new homes, on surplus MoD land – homes for both civilian and military families – driving economic growth and supporting thousands of jobs.
The upcoming Strategy is based on feedback from thousands of service families, including in Wales, and led by an expert, independent review team. With a clear and costed plan for the future, the Strategy will mark a decisive break from the past – following years of chronic underinvestment which drove down Armed Forces morale and retention of military personnel.
A 10-year ‘generational renewal’ of service family homes will see tens of thousands of Armed Forces houses modernised or upgraded, with around 14,000 receiving substantial refurbishment or replacement, ensuring homes fit for our forces and their families. Many will receive a complete makeover – new kitchens, bathrooms and heating systems to ensure military families have the homes that they deserve.
With 801 Service Family Accommodation properties in Wales the Strategy marks a major step forward in improving the quality and sustainability of defence housing in the area. In Wales, rapid improvement works are already underway at 107 service houses across mid and west Wales.
Defence Secretary will announce total investment of £9 billion over the next decade to deliver the Strategy, funded by the Government’s record uplift in defence spending. This builds on the additional £1.5bn in this Parliament, set out at the Strategic Defence Review, to rapidly address the poor state of military housing.
The renewal is made possible following the government’s landmark Annington Homes deal earlier this year, which brought 36,000 properties back into public ownership, saving the taxpayer £600,000 per day – savings which are now being reinvested in fixing forces housing and getting Britain building on defence land.
The Strategy will show how the UK Government is on the side of our forces and their families, while also making defence an engine for growth.
Defence Secretary John Healey MP said:
Every day, our British forces personnel – and their families – help to keep us all safe. In this new era of threat, we rely on them more every day. The least they deserve is a decent home.
Our new Defence Housing Strategy will be the biggest renewal of Armed Forces housing in more than 50 years. This is a new chapter: a decisive break from decades of underinvestment, with a building programme to back Britain’s military families and drive economic growth across the country.
We are a government that is on the side of our forces and their families. With this historic £9bn investment, we will deliver the modern, quality homes that our Forces and their loved ones deserve.
Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens said:
Wales has a long and proud tradition of military service, and it is right that the housing provided for our service personnel and their families are of the very best standard.
The Armed Forces make a vital contribution to the Welsh economy as well as to our national security. With this property modernisation programme this UK Government is delivering for our servicepeople and their families.
The latest government figures highlight that Wales received £1.1 billion in defence spending in the last year alone, directly supporting 3,900 Welsh jobs across a range of sectors. This represents £340 in defence spending per person across Wales, demonstrating the significant economic impact of the UK Government’s defence commitments on Welsh communities.
Rapid improvements to Armed Forces housing are already underway through a Consumer Charter for Forces Families introduced earlier this year, new and upgraded military homes will meet modern property standards comparable to the best professional housing organisations, ensuring they are warm, spacious and of high quality.
As part of the Consumer Charter, the Ministry of Defence made a commitment to urgently upgrade homes most in need of refurbishment. Work to meet this commitment is happening at pace with improvements to 1,000 homes across the UK being completed by the end of this year.
As part of efforts to unlock the wider delivery of 100,000 homes on surplus defence land, the Strategy will put forward plans for a dedicated Defence Development Fund – driving a self-sustaining cycle of investment by releasing surplus land for development, with proceeds reinvested into future projects.
Delivering more homes, in the right places, also means that the Ministry of Defence can widen housing eligibility to more service personnel – such as couples in long-term relationships and those who are non-resident parents – to better reflect modern life. Building homes to meet the extra demand will take time, but in the interim, a rental support scheme will allow service personnel to rent privately while homes are made available.
As part of the Strategy’s recommendations, Armed Forces personnel and veterans will receive priority access to homeownership opportunities when Defence sites are used for housebuilding. The ‘Forces First’ homeownership opportunities will apply to a proportion of new homes on selected surplus defence sites, agreed between MOD, the local authority and the developer based on demand and site viability.
