Marine Corps tenants have rated their privatized housing a little higher than the communities on other services’ installations, with an overall tenant satisfaction score of 78.1 out of a possible 100.
These scores are categorized by installation, and provide information to privatized housing leaders on where corrective action is needed and where tenants are the most satisfied with activities.
Marine Forces Reserve Kansas City housing snagged the highest scores, with an overall score of 92. Only one Marine Corps housing community — at Mountain Warfare Training Center, Bridgeport, California — received a below average overall rating, 69. But that community received a score of 88 for the service the landlord provides to the residents, which is considered in the “outstanding” category.
This tenant satisfaction survey was conducted between December 2020 and January 2021 and emailed to each privatized housing household across the military branches. In Marine Corps privatized housing, 22 percent of households responded.
| Overall satisfaction score | |
|---|---|
| Air Force | 77.2 (Good) |
| Army | 75.4 (Good) |
| Marine Corps | 78.1 (Good) |
| Navy | 77.0 (Good) |
| Source: Military service branches | |
| Categories: 100 to 85=Outstanding; 84 to 80=Very Good; 79 to 75=Good; 74 to 70=Average; 69 to 65=Below Average; 64 to 60=Poor |
The tenant satisfaction survey was newly revamped and standardized across the military branches, as required by law. It was designed to provide a more accurate measure of tenant satisfaction.
The Government Accountability Office and others have been critical of the previous housing surveys, which, if done correctly, are essential for DoD to provide needed oversight over housing for its service members. It’s been more than two years since news reports of mold, vermin, water leaks and damage and other problems surfaced, prompting congressional hearings. DoD and service officials have taken a number of actions since then to start to address the problems, including this step to fix what were previously characterized as misleading housing surveys.
The survey results focused on the overall satisfaction of tenants, their satisfaction with the service provided by privatized housing, and condition of the homes and neighborhoods.
Here’s how the overall scores break down by service branch for privatized housing. The scores are based on a 100-point scale; the overall satisfaction score doesn’t represent a roll-up of scores from other categories.
Marine Corps officials provided information on the tenant satisfaction survey scores of privatized housing at each installation. The results focused on three scores — the overall satisfaction, satisfaction with the service and satisfaction with the property. All but one — the Bridgeport, California, Mountain Warfare Training Center — scored in the range of average or above in all categories.
| Overall satisfaction score | Service quality score | Property quality score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marine Forces Reserve, Kansas City, Missouri | 92 | 99 | 95 |
| Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York | 88 | 95 | 87 |
| Marine Corps Air Station Yuma , Arizona | 83 | 88 | 84 |
| Quantico Marine Corps Base, Virginia | 82 | 85 | 81 |
| Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, North Carolina | 81 | 85 | 78 |
| Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Georgia | 77 | 80 | 82 |
| Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, North Carolina | 77 | 81 | 77 |
| Westover, Massachusetts | 77 | 85 | 78 |
| Marine Corps Base Hawaii | 77 | 78 | 75 |
| Twentynine Palms, California | 77 | 82 | 77 |
| Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station, South Carolina | 77 | 77 | 75 |
| Camp Pendleton, California | 77 | 76 | 78 |
| Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot, South Carolina | 75 | 81 | 75 |
| Mountain Warfare Training Center, Bridgeport, California | 69 | 88 | 74 |
| Note: Residents of PPV housing at San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot, California, were surveyed by the Navy as part of its broader San Diego PPV, which received an overall score of 81.4; service- 84.5; and property-76.9 | |||
| Source: Marine Corps and Navy |
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
