II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4742 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to create a Department of Defense 

Military Housing Readiness Council to enhance oversight and accountability for deficiencies in military housing, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 2, 2022 

Ms. WARREN (for herself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to create a Department of Defense Military Housing Readiness Council 

to enhance oversight and accountability for deficiencies 

in military housing, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Housing 

5 Readiness Council Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MILITARY HOUSING 

2 READINESS COUNCIL. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 88 of title 10, United 

4 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1781c 

5 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘§ 1781d. Department of Defense Military Housing 

7 Readiness Council 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is in the Department of 

9 Defense the Department of Defense Military Housing 

10 Readiness Council (in this section referred to as the 

11 ‘Council’). 

12 ‘‘(b) MEMBERS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Council shall be com14 posed of the following members: 

15 ‘‘(A) The Assistant Secretary of Defense 

16 for Energy, Installations, and Environment, 

17 who shall serve as chair of the Council and who 

18 may designate a representative to chair the 

19 Council in the absence of the Assistant Sec20 retary. 

21 ‘‘(B) One representative of each of the 

22 Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and 

23 Space Force, each of whom shall be a member 

24 of the armed force to be represented and not 

25 fewer than two of which shall be from an en26 listed component. 


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1 ‘‘(C) One spouse of an active component 

2 member of each of the Army, Navy, Air Force, 

3 Marine Corps, and Space Force, not fewer than 

4 two of which shall be the spouse of an enlisted 

5 component member. 

6 ‘‘(D) One individual appointed by the Sec7 retary of Defense among representatives of the 

8 International Code Council. 

9 ‘‘(E) One individual appointed by the Sec10 retary of Defense among representatives of the 

11 Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restora12 tion Certification. 

13 ‘‘(F) One individual appointed by the 

14 Chair of the Committee on Armed Services of 

15 the Senate who is not described in subpara16 graph (B) or (C) and is not a representative of 

17 an organization specified in subparagraph (D) 

18 or (E). 

19 ‘‘(G) One individual appointed by the 

20 Ranking Member of the Committee on Armed 

21 Services of the Senate who is not described in 

22 subparagraph (B) or (C) and is not a rep23 resentative of an organization specified in sub24 paragraph (D) or (E). 


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1 ‘‘(H) One individual appointed by the 

2 Chair of the Committee on Armed Services of 

3 the House of Representatives who is not de4 scribed in subparagraph (B) or (C) and is not 

5 a representative of an organization specified in 

6 subparagraph (D) or (E). 

7 ‘‘(I) One individual appointed by the Rank8 ing Member of the Committee on Armed Serv9 ices of the House of Representatives who is not 

10 described in subparagraph (B) or (C) and is not 

11 a representative of an organization specified in 

12 subparagraph (D) or (E). 

13 ‘‘(2) TERMS.—The term on the Council of the 

14 members specified under subparagraphs (B) through 

15 (H) of paragraph (1) shall be two years and may be 

16 renewed by the Secretary of Defense. 

17 ‘‘(3) ATTENDANCE BY LANDLORDS.—The chair 

18 of the Council shall extend an invitation to each 

19 landlord for one representative of each landlord to 

20 attend such meetings of the Council as the chair 

21 considers appropriate. 

22 ‘‘(c) MEETINGS.—The Council shall meet not less 

23 often than four times each year. 

24 ‘‘(d) DUTIES.—The duties of the Council shall in25 clude the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) To review and make recommendations to 

2 the Secretary of Defense regarding policies for 

3 privatized military housing, including inspections 

4 practices, resident surveys, landlord payment of 

5 medical bills for residents of housing units that have 

6 not maintained minimum standards of habitability, 

7 and access to maintenance work order systems. 

8 ‘‘(2) To monitor compliance by the Department 

9 with and effective implementation by the Depart10 ment of statutory improvements to policies for 

11 privatized military housing, including the Military 

12 Housing Privatization Initiative Tenant Bill of 

13 Rights developed under section 2890 of this title and 

14 the complaint database established under section 

15 2894a of this title. 

16 ‘‘(3) To make recommendations to the Sec17 retary of Defense to improve collaboration, aware18 ness, and promotion of accurate and timely informa19 tion about privatized military housing, accommoda20 tions available through the Exceptional Family 

21 Member Program of the Department of Defense, 

22 and other support services among policymakers, 

23 service providers, and targeted beneficiaries. 

24 ‘‘(e) PUBLIC REPORTING.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY OF DOCUMENTS.—Subject 

2 to section 552 of title 5 (commonly known as the 

3 ‘Freedom of Information Act’), the records, reports, 

4 transcripts, minutes, appendices, working papers, 

5 drafts, studies, agenda, and other documents made 

6 available to or prepared for or by the Council shall 

7 be available for public inspection and copying at a 

8 single location in a publicly accessible format on a 

9 website of the Department of Defense until the 

10 Council ceases to exist. 

11 ‘‘(2) MINUTES.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Detailed minutes of 

13 each meeting of the Council shall be kept and 

14 shall contain— 

15 ‘‘(i) a record of the individuals 

16 present; 

17 ‘‘(ii) a complete and accurate descrip18 tion of matters discussed and conclusions 

19 reached; and 

20 ‘‘(iii) copies of all reports received, 

21 issued, or approved by the Council. 

22 ‘‘(B) CERTIFICATION.—The chair of the 

23 Council shall certify the accuracy of the min24 utes of each meeting of the Council. 

25 ‘‘(f) ANNUAL REPORTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than March 1 

2 each year, the Council shall submit to the Secretary 

3 of Defense and the congressional defense committees 

4 a report on privatized military housing readiness. 

5 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—Each report under this sub6 section shall include the following: 

7 ‘‘(A) An assessment of the adequacy and 

8 effectiveness of the provision of privatized mili9 tary housing and the activities of the Depart10 ment of Defense in meeting the needs of mili11 tary families relating to housing during the pre12 ceding fiscal year. 

13 ‘‘(B) A description of activities of the 

14 Council during the preceding fiscal year, includ15 ing— 

16 ‘‘(i) analyses of complaints of tenants 

17 of housing units; 

18 ‘‘(ii) data received by the Council on 

19 maintenance response time and completion 

20 of maintenance requests relating to hous21 ing units; 

22 ‘‘(iii) assessments of dispute resolu23 tion processes; 

24 ‘‘(iv) assessments of overall customer 

25 service for tenants; 


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1 ‘‘(v) assessments of results of housing 

2 inspections conducted with and without no3 tice; and 

4 ‘‘(vi) any survey results conducted on 

5 behalf of or received by the Council. 

6 ‘‘(C) Recommendations on actions to be 

7 taken to improve the capability of the provision 

8 of privatized military housing and the activities 

9 of the Department of Defense to meet the needs 

10 and requirements of military families relating to 

11 housing, including actions relating to the alloca12 tion of funding and other resources. 

13 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Each report 

14 under this subsection shall be made available in a 

15 publicly accessible format on a website of the De16 partment of Defense. 

17 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) LANDLORD.—The term ‘landlord’ has the 

19 meaning given that term in section 2871 of this 

20 title. 

21 ‘‘(2) PRIVATIZED MILITARY HOUSING.—The 

22 term ‘privatized military housing’ means housing 

23 provided under subchapter IV of chapter 169 of this 

24 title.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

2 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 

3 after the item relating to section 1781c the following new 

4 item: 

‘‘1781d. Department of Defense Military Housing Readiness Council.’’. 

Æ 


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