After Pressure from Warren, Trump Nominee Commits to Holding Private Military Landlords Accountable, Protecting Housing Rights for Servicemembers, Families
Mr. Marks: “I believe that residents do need to have robust rights to include where they live.”
Mr. Marks: “If confirmed, you have my commitment to work with this committee, you, and others, and the services on behalf of our residents (to ensure safe and high quality housing). We owe them that for the service that they give our great nation.”
Washington, D.C. – At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, questioned Mr. Dale Marks, nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, on his vision for addressing military housing problems for servicemembers and their families.
After a 2018 Reuters investigation revealed that military families were subjected to mold, pest infestations, and other safety hazards, Congress and the Department of Defense (DoD) began work to improve housing conditions. Congress passed multiple reforms in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020, including a Tenant Bill of Rights and creation of a public complaint database that became the Housing Feedback System, which allows servicemembers and their families to submit and document publicly concerns about the safety of their homes.
Mr. Marks agreed to use the Housing Feedback System to hold private military housing contractors accountable, saying that, as a former military housing resident himself, he is committed to “build(ing) transparency and trust with our residents.”
Senator Warren highlighted that, despite the reforms passed by Congress, families are still denied justice through concepts like the Enclave Doctrine, which says that tenants living on federal lands are not entitled to the same rights as those living outside of them.
After being questioned by Senator Warren, Mr. Marks committed to “dig deeper to see how we could address (the Enclave Doctrine)” and affirmed that “residents do need to have robust rights to include where they live.” He also committed to working with Senator Warren, SASC, and the military services to ensure service members and their families receive safe and high quality housing.
Senator Warren called for the committee to address the issues with military housing conditions in this year’s NDAA.
“We have a duty to make sure that military families' homes are safe so they can stay focused on the mission of keeping the rest of us safe. Substandard housing conditions hurt military readiness. That’s a problem we could fix,” Senator Warren concluded.
Transcript: Hearing to consider the nominations of: Mr. Bradley D. Hansell to be Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security; Mr. Earl G. Matthews to be General Counsel of the Department of Defense; Mr. Dale R. Marks to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment; and Honorable Brandon M. Williams to be Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security
Senate Armed Services Committee
April 8, 2025
Senator Elizabeth Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and congratulations to all of our nominees.
So, after a 2018 Reuters investigation found that military families were living in homes that were filled with mold, pest infestations, and other safety hazards, this committee opened an inquiry and instituted a slate of reforms in 2019 to hold private military housing contractors accountable.
One of these reforms was the creation of a Tenant Bill of Rights to ensure that military families have the quality housing they deserve. Another was the creation of a public database for military families to report when their landlords fail to provide that quality housing.
I am glad that DOD finally created that database, called the Housing Feedback System, last year. I’m sorry that servicemembers had to wait five years for it. DOD needs to do better to rebuild trust with military families.
Mr. Marks, if you are confirmed, it will be your job to make sure that servicemembers and their families have “safe, high-quality, and affordable” housing. So will you commit to preserving and using DoD’s Housing Feedback system to hold private military housing contractors accountable?
Mr. Dale Marks, nominee to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment: Senator, thank you for that. And as someone who has been a military housing resident, I appreciate the additional oversight to include that database which has been implemented. And I have watched that roll out at the local installation level. If confirmed, you have my commitment we will continue to build transparency and trust with our residents. We owe them that.
Senator Warren: Good. I appreciate that and I appreciate your strong response here. While the reforms we’ve put in place are an important start, military families are still being treated as second-class citizens by unscrupulous landlords. At Fort Belvoir, the housing conditions in these private homes were so reprehensible that families couldn’t even live there. But the families had to continue paying rent for their unlivable homes while they made do in temporary housing.
Mr. Marks, do you agree that military families deserve the same tenant protections provided to their civilian neighbors – so for example the right to terminate their leases if their landlord fails to address safety hazards, or the right to sue their landlords for relief if their family got sick because of poor conditions in their home?
Mr. Marks: Senator, we owe our residents the highest standards of quality in homes and to continue to make robust the informal and formal dispute resolution processes. And, if confirmed, I would want to work with you and this committee to see what we can do.
Senator Warren: Let me just – my question is: should our military families have the same rights that their civilian neighbors have to insist under local and state laws to get protection?
Mr. Marks: Senator, I understand. There are some laws to include the Enclave Act that needs to be addressed. And so what I would want to do is, if confirmed, dig deeper to see how we could address that. I believe that residents do need to have robust rights to include where they live.
Senator Warren: Well, you know, we already have a pretty bad example here because these families at Fort Belvoir who have tried to file claims under the Virginia consumer and housing protection laws and their complaints were dismissed because of the Enclave Doctrine. This is the doctrine that says on federal lands tenants might not be entitled to the same rights as other members of the state or community.
I want to work with my colleagues to address this in the NDAA but DOD also recently provided a response to a letter that I sent with Senators Ossoff and Kaine that said the military services already have the authority to require private military housing companies to take corrective action and can negotiate to provide families with additional rights.
So let me ask you, Mr. Marks, will you work with this committee and the military services to fight for and enforce military families’ housing protection rights and ensure they receive the safe and high quality housing they’re entitled to?
Mr. Marks: Senator, if confirmed, you have my commitment to work with this committee, you, and others, and the services on behalf of our residents. We owe them that for the service that they give our great nation.
Senator Warren: I appreciate that and I hope this is something we’ll take up in the NDAA. We have a duty to make sure that military families' homes are safe so they can stay focused on the mission of keeping the rest of us safe. Substandard housing conditions hurt military readiness. That’s a problem we could fix. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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