{
  "id": "RL31039",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL31039",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 100461,
      "date": "2001-07-02",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:22:53.346941",
      "title": "Military Housing Privatization Initiative: Background and Issues",
      "summary": "This report describes the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI), a pilot program\nauthorized by Congress in 1996 to encourage privately-funded development of housing for use by\nmembers of the U.S. Military Services (including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force).\nThe quality of housing available to members of the Military Services is considered one of the most\nimportant components (along with pay and quality of workplace) in defining the military's \"quality\nof life,\" directly influencing the ability of the Military Services to retain personnel on active duty.\n As part of the Department of Defense (DOD) effort to address its housing problems by a self-\nimposed deadline of 2010, the MHPI uses private sector alternatives to military housing\nconstruction, \"leveraging\" appropriated funds by providing federal supports to commercial real estate\ndevelopers. Congress temporarily granted DOD 12 of these risk-reducing authorities, including the\nability to convey or lease public property to private enterprise, to guarantee minimum occupancy\nrates, or to offer direct loans to real estate developers. While the Office of the Secretary of Defense\nretains general oversight and approval authority, the individual Military Services are responsible for\nthe execution of projects on military installations.\n The MHPI was originally authorized for five years, but few contracts were awarded. Despite\nits slow start, Congress has expressed confidence in the program and recently reauthorized it through\nDecember 31, 2004. The pace at which privatization contracts are being awarded has accelerated.\nWhile the MHPI has been applied only to family housing, DOD intends to expand it to include\nbarracks and military dormitories.\n Issues for Congress in its oversight of the program include the following. One issue is how to\nassess the program and its effectiveness. This is a difficult task, because both the problem of\ndeteriorating housing and the solution of MHPI are complex. Family Housing Master Plans,\nexpected to lay out in detail how each Service will resolve its housing deficiencies over the next\ndecade, will be submitted to Congress soon and are expected to establish the benchmarks necessary\nfor program assessment. DOD operates 300,000 military family housing units, but the ten MHPI\nprojects currently under contract include only 6,900 of them, or less than 2.3% of the total. The\nMHPI alone cannot be a \"silver bullet\" remedy to substandard housing. Nevertheless, it can be\nassessed for its ability to provide cost-effective, quality housing quickly, and its use could be\nexpanded. A second issue is: what are the alternative means of providing quarters for military\npersonnel and their families? Domestic military housing is created through three methods: access\nto the civilian housing market, traditional military construction using appropriated funds, and MHPI\ndevelopment. More than 66% of Service members stationed within the United States use commercial\nhousing. MHPI housing currently under contract or in solicitation accounts for less than 20% of the\nremainder, with military construction supplying the rest. DOD intends to resolve its housing\nshortfalls through a combination of those three alternatives.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
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  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}