Armed Forces personnnel will get first dibs on homes on MOD land, Defence Secretary says
Armed Forces personnel and veterans will be given "first dibs" on homes created on surplus Ministry of Defence land, the Government has revealed.
Defence Secretary John Healey has said that up to 100,000 homes could be built on the land.
Mr Healey will reveal further details of the 'Forces First' approach in a speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
During a visit to Cammell Laird shipyard, the Defence Secretary said that inadequate housing for military personnel and their families was a cause of the retention crisis.
"Morale has hit rock bottom for our forces, and at the heart of the recruitment and retention crisis after 14 years (the Tories) left in this country is housing," he said.
"I'm not content to see damp, mouldy, poorly fitted homes for our forces in the future."
He added that Labour would "extend the aspiration of home ownership" to personnel and veterans and ensure that affordable homes are made available to them.
Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government has pledged to invest £1.5bn by 2029 to improve the standard of military housing.
In a speech to delegates at ACC Liverpool, Mr Healey will say: "Our Armed Forces housing was left in a shameful state by the Conservatives, hammering morale and driving a recruitment and retention crisis in our forces.
"In our first year in office, Labour began the hard work to stop the rot and start the renewal of Armed Forces housing.
"We will turbocharge building on defence land to deliver new homes for both our service personnel and for civilian families across Britain."
The latest figures from the MOD showed that more UK regulars left the Armed Forces than joined over a 12-month period.
In the year up to 31 June 2025, 14,020 left the regular forces, 500 more than those who joined up in the same period.
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