Fort Knox, Kentucky - The results of the fiscal year 2022 Army Tenant Satisfaction Survey, which were released last week, show that Fort Knox is one of the top ten installations to live at in terms of quality housing.
Knox Hills, the Lendlease privatized military housing partner on post, scored 81.8 points out of 100 in overall tenant satisfaction, a 1.5 point increase over the previous year, ranking 8 out of the 43 installations surveyed.
The result is even more impressive when compared to the Army’s overall average of 73.7 points, which represents a slight decrease of 1.7-points from last year.
Knox Hills Project Director Katie Huff attributed the growth in overall satisfaction to adding several key positions to further enhance the level of customer service provided for residents as well as her team getting after needed development work.
“We were able to complete several community development projects, which led to more homes having what they needed – replacing air conditioning units and appliances for example,” Huff said. “Year-to-date, we’ve actually had 500 less HVAC maintenance calls than last year because of our efforts to replace the outdated old units.”
The only category in which Knox Hills scored lower than the previous year was in the maintenance category, which was a .6 point decrease from last year’s score of 86.5, still achieving an “outstanding” rating. Huff said this was likely due to the confluence of large maintenance efforts happening across multiple neighborhoods at the timing of the survey.
“When residents received this survey, we were in the middle of several large improvement projects – we were replacing appliances in the historic district and Chestnut Glen, completing plumbing efforts, replacing HVAC units and addressing much needed road work throughout many of our neighborhoods,” said Huff. “We are happy to say many of those projects are now completed or are well underway.”
According to Huff, the primary concern of residents remains landscaping.
“We’re working really hard to answer the mail on landscaping,” said Huff. “This year, for example, there were weeks when it rained three to four days in a row and the landscaping provider wasn’t able to mow, causing significant delays in service.”
She added that they are already working to address this concern with the landscaping provider to ensure the right plan is in place to improve this area of service provided for residents.
“We’re organizing efforts to ensure there are more options after a hard rain,” said Huff. “For example, if it rains Monday through Thursday, the landscape provider will now have the flexibility to extend service hours on Friday and Saturday to get the work done.”
Huff said another important piece to landscaping improvement is communication with residents.
“We’re working to make sure that residents are more aware of weather delays and makeup days,” said Huff. “Ensuring our residents know that we’re on top it and we have plan, in place to ensure their lawns are taken care of is huge.”
Huff said surveys of this type are vital in helping further understand what is important to residents and areas for improvement so they can make the biggest impact on improving the overall living experience here at Knox Hills.
“It gives everyone a voice and opportunity to provide feedback – good or constructive,” said Huff. “It allows us to see our projects through many different lenses and it gives us an opportunity to address our residents needs and grow as a community.”
Though the results represent an improvement over last year, Huff said Knox Hills has no plans to rest on its laurels.
“I want our residents to continue to feel comfortable talking to us about their concerns. We don’t promise that it’s going to be perfect, but we promise we’re going to work to get it right,” said Huff. “There are so many things our military Families have to worry about, and we don’t want housing to be one of them. We want them to enjoy where they live and that be a peace for them.”
Note: to see all results by installation, visit https://www.army.mil/e2/downloads/rv7/qualityoflife/housing/army_rci_2022-08_dod_tenant_satisfaction_survey_summary-residential_communities_initiative.pdf.
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