WASHINGTON – W. Jordan Gillis, assistant secretary of defense for sustainment and the Defense Department's chief housing officer, is inviting Fort Rucker and all DOD housing residents to participate in the department's annual housing satisfaction survey, which is scheduled to begin this month.
Each year, DOD, working through the military departments, surveys current residents of government-owned, government-leased, or privatized family housing and current residents of privatized unaccompanied housing. The goal is to obtain feedback regarding their living experience, Gillis said.
Survey participation is voluntary, and Gillis encourages residents to share their views about their current housing, resident services and community amenities. "Resident feedback is important to help the department improve the quality of housing and customer care available to residents."
The survey offers Fort Rucker residents an opportunity to let DOD and local leadership know what the post is doing well for residents and where it needs to improve, according to Col. Whitney B. Gardner, Fort Rucker garrison commander.
“Fort Rucker leadership and its housing partner, Corvias, are dedicated to providing Soldiers and families a quality living environment on post,” he said. “With all of the improvements and renovations we’ve been working on in the past few years, we feel we’re doing really well here, but we are never satisfied – we want to do even better.”
Gardner added that he is impressed with the housing team’s efforts at Fort Rucker after a “rough” year in 2020 that featured the COVID-19 pande
mic, a record-setting hurricane season and other storms that complicated not only ongoing renovations, but also brought about new repair needs.
“Hurricane Sally and the other storms caused a significant amount of damage to our homes on Fort Rucker, and the pandemic created all kinds of challenges with supply lines and how work was accomplished,” he said. “Corvias did a great job, though, in their planning and execution to keep the renovations in Munson Heights and Allen Heights going, and getting needed repairs done in a timely manner on homes damaged during the storms.
“I’m extremely proud of our team at Fort Rucker – they did an amazing job this year,” Gardner added. “Corvias has shown time and time again that they excel at taking care of their customers now, and also solving future problems with investments now.”
He also praised residents for taking responsibility for their homes by placing work orders on time and holding workers accountable for the work they do. “It’s made a big difference – everyone should feel very proud of their community and their neighbors.”
Even after a great year during challenging times, Gardner wants 2021 to be even more successful.
“We need to hear from our residents,” the colonel added. “This survey offers a golden opportunity for our residents to tell us where we’re measuring up and where we need to focus more attention in on-post housing. I highly encourage all residents to take part in the survey and give us feedback – positive or negative. We want our on-post housing to be places Soldiers and family members are proud to call home.”
A link to the survey* will be sent via email to each household by one of the two third-party consulting firms administering the feedback collection, tabulation and analysis on the department's behalf. Only one person per address will receive the invitation email. All respondent information will be kept confidential. It will not be linked to the overall feedback results shared with DOD or the results that DOD shares with privatized housing companies or other stakeholders.
The survey results will help inform plans for near-term and future improvements to housing, resident services and community amenities. Gillis emphasized the importance of getting the perspectives of service members and families so the department can provide them with a better quality of life through improved housing and community services.
Each military service will announce the specific date in December when its survey will launch; each survey will remain open for responses for at least 45 days.
Fort Rucker residents of DOD government-owned, government-leased or privatized housing should call housing at 334-255-9230 if they have questions, need technical support, or if their household does not receive an email containing a survey link by Dec. 18.
* Survey’s OMB Control Number: 0704-0553; OMB Exp. Date: 03/31/2022
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