The condition of on-post housing at Fort Gordon has the attention of one of Georgia’s new senators. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) made his second trip this year to the installation on Friday.
Ossoff said he spent two hours meeting with enlisted personnel and military families to talk about housing conditions and what needs to be done to bring the housing up to standard.
“These are soldiers who risk their lives for our national defense and their spouses and children and themselves deserve much better that asbestos and lead pipes and shoddy responses to requests for maintenance,” said the senator.
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He said the responsibility lies with the contractor to provide soldiers and their families with the housing they deserve.
“It’s clear with the privatized housing that there’s major quality health and safety issues,” he said. “There needs to be accountability where the contractor responsible for managing this housing is not living up to the expectations that I have, that the Army has and that the personnel serving here have in terms of quality of life, health and safety.”
The housing is managed by Balfour Beatty Communities, a Philadelphia-based real estate service company. Balfour Beatty has not been reached yet for comment.
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Ossoff said, “It is absolutely time to have a meeting with the private contractor and to express they are not meeting the expectations and what I believe are their obligations to provide personnel here with the very best quality of housing.”
He said the long term project should be to replace the aging housing, some of which was built in the 1940s and 50s, but in the meantime, the contractor has an obligation to manage the properties to a good living standard.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com.
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