MOLD Act: Privatized Military Housing Reform
Legislation known as the Military Occupancy Living Defense (MOLD) Act is under consideration in Congress to hold private housing companies financially accountable for hazardous living conditions in military family housing they manage.
MOLD Act: Privatized Military Housing Reform
This legislation, if passed, would allow the Department of Defense (DOD) to withhold payments from private contractors who fail to maintain or correct health issues in contract military housing such as mold and lead paint.
Part of the problem appears to be tied to the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI), a 1996 program that privatized base housing management. Designed to fix a $20 billion maintenance backlog, the DOD signed 50-year leases with private investors with limited government oversight built into the agreements.
Learn more: How to report hazardous conditions in military housing.
Limited Oversight
The nature of these deals often prevents the military from imposing fines or terminating contracts without legal battles, and they are a strong argument, according to some military advocates, against privatized military housing.
The MOLD Act would address this problem, establishing mandatory health standards for humidity and ventilation in military family housing. It also mandates independent, third-party inspections to replace self-reporting.
According to the Federal News Network, the MOLD Act would require contractors to do a great deal more in the service of the military family housing community than is currently required:
“While some bases conduct third-party inspections, they vary widely due to the lack of consistent standards. Additionally, current inspections are often limited to merely visual checks, and too often, when tests are done, the results are not disclosed to families.” What does the MOLD Act ask?
Military housing contractors would be required to provide inspection reports and housing history records stored in a centralized database. And that’s not all.
Putting BAH Money in Escrow
The MOLD Act would allow the DOD to withhold active duty Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) payments. The government would place BAH funds into escrow accounts until developers verify repairs or compliance.
The MOLD Act, as currently written, also addresses performance-based incentive fees. Many companies currently receive these bonuses despite documented maintenance neglect.
What’s Next
The MOLD Act ties these profits directly to safety records and tenant satisfaction and would allow families to pursue civil damage claims against military housing contractors in civilian courts. The MOLD Act has not yet been signed into law. At press time, it was under review in the Armed Services Committee.
Learn more: How to report hazardous conditions in military housing.
About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
