Forces News poll: Almost half against planned military housing allocation changes

Almost half of respondents to a Forces News YouTube poll disagree with changes to accommodation allocation which would have seen officers and junior ranks living side by side.

The Modernised Accommodation Offer plan has now been paused, just two weeks before it was due to come into effect, after complaints that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) had not properly considered all the implications of the scheme.

In the poll, with more than 1,700 responses, 45% said that they did not agree with the plan that would see senior and junior ranks living side-by-side, with 29% saying they did and 26% unsure. 

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Part of the proposed changes would have meant service families accommodation (SFA) was allocated on need and not seniority.

Under current rules, senior officers receive housing based on their rank but the new rules will focus on the number of rooms required for any dependants.

This means junior ranks could be entitled to larger MOD housing stock, previously reserved for more senior ranks.

Commenting on the Forces News Youtube poll, @smokejaguar67 said, "As an ex squaddie, I know for a fact I would not like to be living in the same street as my CO or RSM.

"That would be a nightmare.

"Junior ranks should have access to quality housing, though, just like the senior ranks.

"Bad housing causes squaddies to sign off in droves."

@RoperGaming said when he was serving more than 10 years to go, there was a separation of junior and officer ranks due to the different rent prices.

He said: "You can't put a fresh new grunt in a home with £900pm rent and a five-year officer in £700pm house.

"That's just not right. So there has to be a separation at some point."

Yet, for @andymartinez767 when he was in the military, the model of providing housing on rank rather than need meant his wife and two kids were "allocated an OLD dump".

He said: "I refused as my family deserved better. Finally managed to get a reasonable house but took some bashing."

Andy W (@teamwaine) commented: "By the sounds of it nothing has changed.

"Going back a number of years now, I was always shocked at the state of the cheapest married accommodation available mainly to younger soldiers.

"Cheap but also very very bad and not really fit for a young family to live in."