As private contractors have taken over the management of military housing on many bases, military families have long reported being asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, about problems in their homes or as conditions for needed repairs.
On Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pressed the top enlisted leaders from each military branch about those agreements. during a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel hearing about quality of life issues for enlisted service members and their families.
Warren asked each of the enlisted leaders if they believed such an agreement was appropriate, particularly in cases where service members face toxic mold for more than 10 months. She did not name a specific company or military installation.
“I think service members should always have access to their commanders to be able to report the problems, ma’am,” said Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff David Isom.
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With some nudging from Warren, Isom said that troops should also be able to talk with Congress about problems with privatized military housing.
Throughout the hearing, senators questioned leaders on a number of topics related to quality of life in the military. As senior enlisted leaders, the six serve as advisors to the military’s top officers and are expected to be tuned into issues facing rank-and-file troops, but do not set policy themselves.
Warren also pressed Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael R. Weimer with similar questions after he initially insisted that a service member’s chain of command would be aware of housing problems she described.
“I’ve lived in houses,” Weimer said. “I don’t quite understand how a family gets put in a corner for a non-disclosure. I have to do some more research on that.”
But Warren continued: “You know, sergeant major, I don’t understand why you’re trying to parse words here. The question is: As part of getting a repair, should any housing operator that’s working for the United States government and getting paid by the United States government be able to say to a service member, ‘I’m only doing the repair after you sign an agreement that you won’t tell anybody in your chain of command, or you won’t tell any congressional oversight committee, about what this place was like?’”
Weimer replied: “That, right here, ranking member, they should not be able to do.”
Following that exchange, the senior enlisted leaders for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force all gave extremely brief answers echoing that sentiment.
NDAs common in civilian housing world
Requiring NDAs is a common practice for both privatized military housing companies and landlords in general, said Sean Timmons, a managing partner at the Tully Rinckey law firm.
But privatized military housing companies have less of an incentive than their civilian counterparts to provide services to military families because of the frequency with which they change duty stations, Timmons told Task & Purpose.
A recent survey conducted by the Military Housing Coalition found that although troops and families are being asked to sign non-disclosure agreements less frequently than in the past, it is still a common practice by privatized military housing companies — especially in cases involving potential or ongoing litigation, said Heather Hall, the coalition’s founder.
“An NDA should never be presented as a condition for necessary repairs to a service member’s home,” Hall said in a statement to Task & Purpose. “It is particularly troubling when NDAs are associated with serious health and safety issues such as mold. No military family should have to choose between safe housing and their right to speak openly about their living conditions.”
