Britain’s armed forces housing is set for a “generational renewal” under at £9bn Defence Housing Strategy which will see more than 40,000 military homes modernised or rebuilt and surplus MoD land released to delivery more than 100,000 new homes.

The biggest upgrade to armed forces housing in more than half a century, the plans will see tens of thousands of houses modernised or upgraded, with around 14,000 receiving substantial refurbishment or replacement, ensuring homes fit for forces and their families. 

The strategy also kickstarts a 10-year programme of housebuilding on surplus defence land which could see more than 100,000 new homes developed.

Defence secretary, John Healey, said: “Our British forces personnel and our veterans fulfil the ultimate public service. Our nation is rightly proud of them. And the very least they deserve is a decent home.   

“This new strategy will embed a ‘Forces First’ approach that tells our forces, our veterans and their families: we are on your side.  

“We can’t fix forces housing overnight, but this effort is already underway and will now accelerate. By creating a specialist Defence Housing Service, backed by record investment in military accommodation, we will deliver better value for the taxpayer and fulfil our promise to provides homes fit for heroes.”

Rapid improvements are already underway through a Consumer Charter for Forces Families introduced earlier this year.  As part of the Consumer Charter, the Ministry of Defence made a commitment to urgently upgrade homes most in need of refurbishment. Work to meet this commitment to is happening at pace with improvements to 1,000 homes across the UK being completed by the end of this year.    

Outdated rules have also been scrapped, making it easier for families to keep pets, paint rooms in a greater choice of colours and for spouses to run a business from home.  

The Defence Housing Strategy will be funded by investment of £9bn over the next decade and delivers on commitments made in the Strategic Defence Review, which announced a record additional £1.5bn investment in military family accommodation in this parliament.

This funding follows January’s landmark deal to bring 36,000 military family homes back into public ownership.  

Contracts were exchanged between MoD and Annington with the deal ending a £600,000 daily rental bill – totalling more than £230m a year – and makes major housing redevelopment and improvements possible.   

While the new strategy focusses on family accommodation, the MoD will also undertake an urgent review of single living accommodation and proposals will also be developed to address the condition and service standards for overseas family homes. 

As part of the strategy’s recommendations, armed forces personnel and veterans will receive priority access to homeownership opportunities when Defence sites are used for housebuilding.

The ‘Forces First’ homeownership opportunities will apply to a proportion of new homes on selected surplus defence sites, agreed between MOD, the local authority and the developer based on demand and site viability.