Good homes at the heart of military life: MOD to build first new forces homes in a decade

• 265 brand new forces homes, flats and bungalows to be built at RAF Brize Norton.
• 2,000 more military properties to be modernised in the next 12 months alone.
• Thousands of service family homes to be refurbished or rebuilt as part of a decade-long transformation.

Enabling works are now underway on 265 new-build military family properties at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire – the first such MOD development since 2017. Council planners have given the green light to the scheme, which will see a range of flats, houses and bungalows built on land at Carterton near the air base, paving the way for construction to start in the coming weeks.   

In addition, across the UK, 2,000 more military properties will be modernised in the next financial year alone. The Government is delivering on its commitment to fix the dire state of forces family housing, building on the 1,250 worst-condition properties already brought up to standard.

Ministers are determined to deliver at pace as British personnel and their families continue to make extraordinary sacrifices to keep Britain safe – including working round the clock on the crisis in the Middle East. Better housing is a key part of this Government's promise to renew the nation's commitment to those who serve, and a key factor in fixing Armed Forces recruitment and retention.  

This work is a step towards widened access for families to which a military home was not previously available, and 1,000 such families will be given the keys to a defence house this year.   

Building new houses and bringing back online previously unavailable homes are part of the bricks and mortar-led approach to widening access to housing set out in the government's Defence Housing Strategy.  In time this will be accompanied by an interim rental allowance which will accelerate widened access for those military families whose needs cannot be met in a particular location, while capacity on the estate increases.            

Backed by £9 billion over the next decade, the Defence Housing Strategy is a major step forward in delivering the government's pledge to provide high-quality housing for the Armed Forces. It represents the most significant transformation of UK military housing in over 50 years, with more than 40,000 service family homes to be modernised, refurbished or rebuilt.  

Defence Secretary, John Healey MP said:

At a time of greater global uncertainty, when we're asking more of our Forces and their families, a decent home has never mattered more. 

Housing is at the heart of all of our lives. And after years of neglect, the new development at Brize Norton demonstrates delivery on our overhaul of military housing. 

I am determined that British military families will get homes they can be proud of, as we renew our nation's contract with those who serve.

The new homes at Brize Norton follow the government's landmark deal to bring 36,000 homes back into public ownership. That deal has allowed a generational overhaul of Armed Forces housing and is saving the taxpayer £600,000 per day in rent no longer needing to be paid.   

Natalie Elphicke-Ross OBE, Chair of the Defence Housing Strategy Review team said:   

This exciting new development at Brize Norton shows that the new Defence Housing Strategy is hitting the ground running. A further 2,000 Defence family homes are set to be upgraded and modernised over the coming year.  

Making sure that military families have a warm, safe, modern, comfortable home is central to our plan for a generational change to military housing.

Following the successful achievement of its Consumer Charter pledges last year, the MOD is delivering on its promise to put families at the heart of its plans for housing, including through a new family-focused committee. The committee is made up of representatives from across the Armed Forces and Families Federations and gives families an influential voice at every level of Defence housing decision-making.    

The work is underpinned by the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War, hitting 2.6% of GDP from 2027, and the UK defence budget will total £270 billion across this Parliament alone.