{"id":18390,"date":"2023-04-12T16:33:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T20:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&p=18390"},"modified":"2023-04-12T16:35:56","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T20:35:56","slug":"sen-ossoff-personally-oversees-privatized-housing-inspections-on-ft-gordon-2","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-personally-oversees-privatized-housing-inspections-on-ft-gordon-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Ossoff Personally Oversees Privatized Housing Inspections on Ft. Gordon<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following his 8-month bipartisan investigation, Sen. Ossoff successfully <\/em>pushed the Army<\/em><\/a> to conduct home-by-home inspections of all privatized housing units on Ft. Gordon & installations nationwide<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please find broadcast-quality video and audio of Sen. Ossoff\u2019s press conference at Ft. Gordon here<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please find broadcast-quality B-Roll of Sen. Ossoff inspection housing units on Ft. Gordon here<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ft. Gordon, Ga<\/strong>. \u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff returned to Ft. Gordon today to oversee home-by-home inspections of privatized housing units on post. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff oversaw inspections of multiple privatized homes on post and met with the families who live in them. Sen. Ossoff later held a roundtable with junior enlisted personnel and their families to hear about the current state of housing on post and other quality-of-life concerns they had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI returned to Ft. Gordon today to ensure the Army makes good on its commitment to me that it will inspect every single home on post. I spent the day personally witnessing those inspections. These inspections are happening, and that\u2019s an encouraging sign,\u201d Sen. Ossoff said. <\/strong>\u201cWe still have a long way to go, and we need to see continued forward momentum by the Army and sustained change from Balfour Beatty to do right by the families here at Ft. Gordon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Sen. Ossoff\u2019s request and urging, inspections of every privatized home on post at Ft. Gordon began yesterday and are expected to take approximately four weeks to complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December, Sen. Ossoff secured that commitment<\/a> from the Army to conduct inspections of all privatized housing units on Ft. Gordon \u2014 and that Ft. Gordon would be the first installation in the nation to receive the inspections once new inspection contracts were finalized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last April, Sen. Ossoff\u2019s 8-month bipartisan investigation found mistreatment of families<\/a> living in privatized military housing operated by contractor Balfour Beatty Communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day following Sen. Ossoff\u2019s bipartisan hearing last April, the Army announced that it would take immediate action and conduct its own investigation<\/a> into the conditions of these housing units at Fort Gordon, suspend any requests from Balfour Beatty for incentive fees, and launch an audit of Balfour Beatty\u2019s property management records at Fort Gordon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the weeks and months after, Sen. Ossoff launched a series of additional inquiries with the Army to call for further oversight of privatized military housing in Georgi<\/a>a<\/a> and nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, he launched an additional bipartisan inquiry with Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) calling on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin<\/a> to improve data collection about privatized housing conditions that may pose a risk to military families\u2019 health and safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the inspections today, Sen. Ossoff held a press conference to update the media on his efforts. Click here<\/a> for a recording of the press conference and click here<\/a> for B-roll of Sen. Ossoff overseeing the inspections.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Please find a transcript of Sen. Ossoff\u2019s press conference remarks below:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF<\/strong>: \u201cThank you so much for joining me here at Ft. Gordon this afternoon. I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to General [Paul] Stanton, Colonel [Reginald \u201cReggie\u201d] Evans, and the command staff here for welcoming me back on post and for their leadership at this installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe men and women who serve here at Ft. Gordon do work that is vital to our national security. And they deserve to live in safe and healthy housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI came here today to ensure that the Army is making good on its commitment \u2014 a commitment that Army leadership made to me personally and to the military families on post here \u2014 that they would inspect every single home on post. That\u2019s why I’m here today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLast year, I led an eight-month long bipartisan investigation of housing conditions here at Ft. Gordon and at other bases across the country, and installations across the country, where there\u2019s privatized housing. And what we found was consistent with the complaints that military families here have been raising for years: widespread mistreatment of families living in privatized housing on post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd this matters because first of all, we owe it to those who make tremendous sacrifices to serve that they have safe, healthy accommodation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a 15-month-old baby daughter at home. I know how it is for these young families and young parents who have infant children or young kids in these homes. They cannot and should not have to fear that their child may be sickened by the housing they\u2019re living in on a U.S. Army installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis also matters because this gets directly at the Army\u2019s ability to execute its mission in our national defense. Healthy soldiers who can focus on their mission instead of being distracted by distress about the conditions their family is living in are better able to defend our country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd we are better able to retain the exceptionally talented people in the Army when they and their families are treated right and are living in safe, healthy housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why this matters<\/a>. That\u2019s why I launched that investigation last year. And that\u2019s why I\u2019ve stayed focused on this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI demanded that the Army come and inspect every single home on post. They committed to do so, and they are doing so. And that\u2019s a positive sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I came here today: to confirm that these home-by-home inspections are underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI appreciate the Army\u2019s commitment to do that. I appreciate that the Army\u2019s making good on their commitment to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut we\u2019ve still got a long way to go, and much work ahead of us to ensure that the housing here is up to standard and that Balfour Beatty, the company that is responsible for operating this housing, is fully responsive to the needs of those who live in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo again, just to be absolutely clear<\/a> about what\u2019s happening today: I\u2019ve returned to Ft. Gordon to personally ensure that the Army is making good on its commitment to inspect every single home on post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI spent the day out at communities on post personally witnessing those inspections happening. Those inspections are happening, and that\u2019s an encouraging sign. But we\u2019ve still got a long way to go, and I\u2019m going to remain focused on this issue and fully committed to holding the Army accountable and holding Balfour Beatty accountable to do right by the military families who live here.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following his 8-month bipartisan investigation, Sen. Ossoff successfully pushed the Army to conduct home-by-home inspections of all privatized housing units on Ft. Gordon & installations nationwide Please find broadcast-quality video and audio of Sen. Ossoff\u2019s press conference at Ft. Gordon here Please find broadcast-quality B-Roll of Sen. Ossoff inspection housing units on Ft. Gordon here Ft. Gordon, […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18390","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/18390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/18390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18394,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/18390\/revisions\/18394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}