Homes for 'Heroes'
I think this looks like a case of chickens coming home to roost. But if you prosecute several military campaigns at once, inevitably giving military sacrifices a higher public profile, then you'd better make sure the way personnel are treated is acceptable.
The all-party parliamentary Public Accounts Committee last week lambasted the Ministry of Defence for allowing 12,000 military homes to fall into worse disrepair than the previous year.
Defective locks, inadequate kitchens, a lack of loft insulation and sanitary standards that would for example not be acceptable in the council housing sector have become, say the Committee commonplace.
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When I visited a newly refurbished 48 dwelling estate in Putney the refrain coming from everyone was that happy families made more productive soldiers.
More than one senior official told me that the least men and women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq could expect is for their families to have good living conditions in official accommodation.
The government has recognised the morale sapping experience of being billeted in poor family accommodation. They've made a commitment to spend £10 billion across the MOD estate nationally over the next ten years to upgrade these facilities.
In fact Minister for Veterans, Personnel and Housing at the MOD, Kevan Jones MP, let slip that the government is preparing to announce later this year that they will be encouraging military personnel to exercise a right to buy option on some properties.
In London the requirements are more modest but the MOD still has 3600 units across the capital which it is responsible for. Well over half of those I'm told are in need of an urgent upgrade.
Up until 2008 the Putney estate of 48 flats was in a pretty poor state of repair but military families were still living there. After the last family moved out, squatters moved in and made it an even less desirable place to live. Now after a 4 million pound investment service families have once again moved in.
Eimer Short is a young mother with a two year old. Her husband is currently serving with the Household Cavalry and until last month was living high up in the Knightsbridge towers where the unit is based for its ceremonial duties.
Putney is a far friendlier place to live with other service families and their children able to be more neighbourly. Living on barracks can often present other problems that us lot in civvy street would find intensely irritating, like finding it difficult to register at a school or to open a bank account.
At present nearly a fifth of all military properties stand empty, another reflection of the historical neglect of the estate. Kevan Jones, concedes there is a mountain to climb but that the political will is now there to deliver a relatively quick upgrade of service accommodation.
There's probably nothing like a war to concentrate political minds on the care given to kith and kin when soldiers are being killed and maimed in the line of duty on scales not seen for a generation.
Major Alex Michael from London District HQ recognises the mistakes of the past but believes there are sufficient motivation and a significant budget to now ensure that service families can be properly housed within the M25.
It's unclear how long it will take to clear the backlog in the London area but there is an additional pressing imperative to do it as quickly as possible. London regiments, like other regional ones, are in future going to remain based in their region so making the armed services more static.
The Armed Services recognise for this to work properly there is going to need to be a greater sense of community; good quality homes are a key part of this. Homes for 'Heroes' may be a cliché, but if you expect one day to perhaps pay the ultimate price in the service of your community you want to know your family are going to be looked after.
I’m Kurt Barling, BBC London’s Special Correspondent. This is where I discuss some of the big topical issues which have an impact on Londoners' lives and share stories which remind us of our rich cultural heritage. 
Comment number 1.
At 19:14 28th Oct 2009, EmDubs83 wrote:I am the wife of a serving Soldier who is currently out in Afghanistan. We have had numerous problems in our quarter ranging from fleas in our carpets when we first marched in which we waited over a year for them to be replaced, with no visits from pest control, an insecure front door for over a year which took over 40 members of MODern Housing Solutions staff members to fix purely because of their incompetence, kitchen cupboards and drawers that we couldn't use because they were falling apart. They eventually replaced the kitchen units which took over 2 weeks and we were left without a fully functioning kitchen. We also had an engineer working on our kitchen who thought nothing of swearing at us in front of our daughter. They cracked a pipe and caused a leak. Nobody from MODern Housing Solutions or Defence Estates is taking any responsibility for any of this and both are refusing to compensate us for loss of earnings and inconvenience. It's like they're being allowed to make so many mistakes at the expense of our family and getting away with it and it is totally unfair.
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Comment number 2.
At 17:29 30th Oct 2009, Kurt Barling wrote:The Minister accepted and so do the MOD that they have a mountain to climb in getting the estate up to scratch. I think they concede that management of the MOD estate has also been poor. In the meantime MODern Housing Solutions management have a job to meet expectations raised by the positive developments in places like Putney. [Personal details removed by Moderator]
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