Service family homes in Wales to benefit from £9bn renewal

Armed Forces personnel and their families in Wales will benefit from the most significant transformation of UK military housing in more than 50 years.

More than 40,000 service family homes across the UK to be modernised, refurbished or rebuilt under the new Defence Housing Strategy, to be published by the UK Government on Monday, backed by a £9 billion investment.

The 10-year ‘generational renewal’ will see around 14,000 of those homes receiving substantial refurbishment or replacement. Many will receive a complete makeover, including new kitchens, bathrooms and heating systems.

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.

Surplus defence land will be used to build over 100,000 new homes for both civilian and military families as part of the Government’s promise to get Britain building the necessary housing to boost growth.

The Defence Housing Strategy is based on feedback from thousands of service families, including in Wales, and led by an independent review team.

The Government said 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.

There are 801 Service Family Accommodation properties in Wales, with rapid improvement works already underway at 107 service houses across mid and west Wales.

Defence Secretary John Healey MP will announce the total investment of £9 billion over the next decade, building 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 UK Government’s Annington Homes deal earlier this year, which brought 36,000 properties back into public ownership, saving the taxpayer £600,000 per day. These savings are now being reinvested in fixing forces housing and getting Britain building on defence land.

Defence Secretary John Healey MP said: “Our British forces personnel and our veterans fulfil the ultimate public service. Our nation is rightly proud of them. And the very least they deserve is a decent home.

“This new Strategy will embed a ‘Forces First’ approach that tells our forces, our veterans and their families: we are on your side.

“We can’t fix forces housing overnight, but this effort is already underway and will now accelerate. By creating a specialist Defence Housing Service, backed by record investment in military accommodation, we will deliver better value for the taxpayer and fulfil our promise to provide homes fit for heroes.”

Pride

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, directly supporting 3,900 Welsh jobs across a range of sectors. This represents £340 in defence spending per person across Wales.

Through a Consumer Charter for Forces Families introduced earlier this year, including a commitment to urgently upgrade homes most in need of refurbishment, work is happening at pace with improvements to 1,000 homes across the UK set to be completed by the end of this year.

Interim service

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.

This is intended to allow the Ministry of Defence to 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. While homes are undergoing construction, an interim rental support scheme will allow service personnel to rent privately.

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.