IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

April 18, 2023 

 

Whistleblowers Tell U.S. Senate About Continuing Mistreatment of  Military Families in Privatized Housing  

Problems Exposed at Last Year’s Senate Hearing Remain Unresolved  

WASHINGTON – Today, three whistleblowers represented by Government Accountability Project testified that military families continue to be victimized by the private, for-profit contractor hired by the Department of Defense to maintain family housing on base. The contractor, Balfour Beatty Communities (BBC), today manages 43,000 family homes at 55 military bases across the U.S. The whistleblowers testified that to this day, BBC is still not providing adequate maintenance services, and that the company’s neglect has allowed, among other problems, dangerously toxic mold to fester in its residences. 

Today’s Oversight Session on Georgia Military Housing, led by Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA), follows up on the bi-partisan investigation and hearing held a year ago by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Mistreatment of Military Families in Privatized Military Housing. At today’s session, Government Accountability Project clients Joy Viera, Erin Greer, and Ashley M. Porras – spouses of current and retired soldiers – shared their stories about BBC’s mismanagement and gross neglect.  

Ms. Viera testified that BBC’s neglect had forced her family to make eight moves in four months. Ms. Greer testified that an independent mold inspector certified her home was unfit for human occupancy, that just this past month sewage continues to leak on the floor in and around a bathroom, and that BBC’s work order paperwork states the problem has been “fixed” (it hasn’t).  Ms. Porras testified that an independent mold inspector her family brought in also declared her home – after hours of examination and analysis – unfit for human occupancy, that BBC was upset that the family allowed someone who wasn’t hired by them onto the premises, and that BBC’s inspector found nothing after a 20-minute visit.   

Government Accountability Project counsel David Z. Seide, who represents the whistleblowers said: 

“Our clients testified at today’s Oversight Session that – one year after the Senate’s landmark hearing – military families are still being mistreated in privatized military housing. It was horrible then; it is horrible now. It is unacceptable to subject the families of those who are risking their lives for their country with indecent, ‘unfit for human occupancy’ housing.” 

 

Contact: Andrew Harman, Government Accountability Project Communications Director
Email:[email protected]
Phone: 202.926.3304  

Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, Government Accountability Project’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, Government Accountability Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. 

 

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