UK defence ministry postpones nearly £2bn for fixing mould-ridden military housing

The Ministry of Defence announced it will defer roughly £2 billion earmarked for repairing mould- and damp-affected housing for service families and single personnel, moving the funds to the next Parliament. Permanent secretary Jeremy Pocklington told the Public Accounts Committee that £800 million for Service Family Accommodation and £950 million for Single Living Accommodation have been cut by a quarter, amounting to a £1 billion reduction this term.

A recent Defence Committee report labelled the quality of military homes as “shocking”, noting that about one-third of armed-forces members report living in damp or mouldy conditions. Earlier promises by former defence secretary John Healey to invest £9 billion over ten years, including 100,000 new homes, have been undermined by the cuts. Current defence secretary Wes Streeting warned that historic overspending forced a reprioritisation of the housing programme. The government says it will continue to address the issue, citing £1.4 billion planned for new single-living units by 2030 and recent maintenance work that resolved 614,000 issues.