NAVY PLANS $1.7B BARRACKS UPGRADE

PHOTO CAPTION: A room at Huntington Hall Naval Berthing Facility in Newport News, Virginia, is shown in April 2024. The Navy's new $1.7 billion Hampton Roads housing agreement with Hunt Military Communities is intended to replace aging facilities including Huntington Hall. (U.S. Navy photo by Max Lonzanida)

The Navy is launching a $1.7 billion effort to build and renovate housing for more than 8,000 sailors in Hampton Roads — and the private housing company at the center of the project is simultaneously facing separate lawsuits from military families over alleged conditions at another installation.

The Navy publicly announced the agreement with Hunt Military Communities on Sept. 16, describing it as a major effort to improve unaccompanied housing for junior sailors in Virginia.

The five-year plan calls for construction or renovation of 8,098 beds across Newport News, Norfolk, Virginia Beach and surrounding installations.

According to the Navy, the agreement was signed July 1 and will use private capital to accelerate housing improvements while saving the government more than $325 million. The service also says the arrangement will increase long-term sustainment funding for the affected housing by 400%.

The largest piece of the project will be a new 1,500-bed facility in Newport News, intended to replace aging housing such as Huntington Hall Naval Berthing Facility.

The plan also includes 5,272 bedrooms at Naval Station Norfolk, 712 at Naval Air Station Oceana and 614 at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story.

Stars and Stripes described the agreement as the Navy's first large-scale privatization of barracks, although the service already uses some privatized unaccompanied housing and Hunt currently manages housing for more than 3,600 junior sailors through Homeport Hampton Roads.

Navy officials argue the approach will allow the service to replace aging housing faster while giving sailors cleaner, safer and more reliable places to live.

But Hunt's selection arrives amid ongoing scrutiny involving other military housing the company manages.

In March, three military families filed a federal lawsuit involving housing at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph in Texas.

The families allege they dealt with conditions including mold, sewage problems, water damage, lead paint and other deficiencies while living in Hunt-managed housing. Those allegations remain part of ongoing litigation and have not been established as findings against the company.

Then in July, an Air Force chaplain and his family filed another lawsuit involving housing at Randolph.

Lt. Col. Travis Allen and his family allege they encountered persistent water leaks, mold and chipping lead paint while living there.

Hunt disputed those allegations.

The company told Stars and Stripes that it remains committed to providing safe and well-maintained housing and said it has processes in place to investigate maintenance concerns, train employees and bring in qualified outside professionals when necessary.

The Hampton Roads agreement is separate from those Texas cases, and there is no evidence that the Navy's new barracks project has experienced similar problems.

Hunt also has a previous federal settlement in its military-housing history.

In January 2022, Hunt Companies agreed to pay $500,000 to resolve False Claims Act allegations involving privatized housing at Dover Air Force Base.

Federal prosecutors alleged Hunt submitted materially false information between 2013 and 2019 to obtain higher performance-incentive payments from the Air Force.

The settlement resolved the government's allegations, and Hunt did not admit wrongdoing.

Despite that history, Hunt remains one of the largest military-housing operators in the country. Stars and Stripes reports the company manages more than 60,600 homes at 59 military installations.

Now the Navy is expanding that relationship into a much larger piece of junior-enlisted life.

Navy officials say the Hampton Roads project will reduce the financial burden on junior sailors, replace aging infrastructure and provide better housing during ship maintenance and recovery periods.

For thousands of sailors, the results will eventually be measured much more simply: by the rooms they actually have to live in.

(Source: OAF Nation)