With many United States military service members experiencing poor living conditions or hazardous housing situations, U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) on May 9 offered a bipartisan bill that would enable service members to report issues in real-time and find faster resolutions to such conditions.
“As an Army dad, I know first-hand the challenges our service men and women face when finding safe and comfortable housing,” Rep. Thompson said. “They should feel confident if an issue arises it will be resolved, and in a timely manner.”
The congressman sponsored the Military Housing Transparency and Accountability Act, H.R. 3165, with six original cosponsors, including U.S. Reps. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Salud Carbajal (D-CA) to establish additional requirements for a military housing complaint database, which will be a centralized assessment tool for members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their family members to identify, rate, and compare housing options.
If enacted, H.R. 3165 would expand access to the tool, upon implementation by the U.S. Department of Defense, to all service members and their dependents, as well as enhance the reporting requirements to ensure accountability, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Thompson’s staff.
“This bipartisan bill is a step in the right direction and will improve transparency and oversight, with the goal of fixing a system that has serious issues,” said Rep. Thompson.
Rep. Carbajal said that America’s service members deserve reliable and safe housing. “However, too often I hear stories of military housing not meeting those standards,” he said.
H.R. 3165 would provide “a way for service members to see and compare housing options, and to report issues and hazards in real-time, we can improve housing conditions,” said Rep. Carbajal.
With Honor Action and the VFW National Security and Foreign Affairs Directorate endorsed the measure, which has been referred for consideration to the U.S. House Armed Services Committee.