Army senior leaders meet with Fort Meade residents, Soldiers and housing staff

Fort Meade, Md. -- In light of recent reports highlighting deficient living conditions in some privatized military housing, the U.S. Army's top-three senior leaders traveled to Fort Meade this morning to speak with Soldiers, their families, leaders at Fort Meade and the private company that manages housing on the installation.

Secretary of the Army Dr. Mark Esper, Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Mark Milley, and Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel Dailey met with the commanding general of Installation Management Command Lt. Gen. Bradley Becker, Fort Meade's garrison commander and Army Families to visit single-family homes and discuss their concerns over living conditions.

"We are deeply troubled by reports of inferior housing conditions, and what we saw at Fort Meade. We want to hear firsthand from our Soldiers and their families about the extent of the problem and what needs to be done to correct it," Esper said.

After speaking with Soldiers and their families, the Army senior leaders met with John Picerne, CEO of Corvias, the private company that manages housing at Fort Meade and some other military installations across the United States. More than 87,000 Army houses that were privatized under the Residential Communities Initiative program are currently managed by Corvias and other private companies.

"We owe our Soldiers and their Families safe, high-quality housing." Milley said. "That did not happen in a troubling number of cases and that is unacceptable. We have to do better, and we will."

Secretary Esper and Gen. Milley recently called for an Inspector General inspection of privatized Army housing. In addition, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently conducted inspections of 1,376 homes on 53 installations to assess potential hazards, such as lead-based paint and asbestos containing materials.

Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. James C. McConville also met with Soldiers, Families and Army leaders at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, today.

"If residents have housing issues - not just at Fort Meade, but at all Army installations - that are not met in a reasonable time frame, we want them to push them to their chains of command immediately," Dailey said.

In the coming weeks, Army senior leaders will continue to engage with Families, conduct analyses and determine future actions to ensure that Soldiers and their families are getting the service and responsiveness that they deserve.