NR - 13.328 - November 7, 2013
Ottawa - In response to DND’s Ombudsman report entitled On the Homefront: Assessing the Well-being of Canada's Military Families in the New Millennium, the Chef Executive Officer of the Canadian Forces Housing Agency, Ms. Dominique Francoeur, would like to offer the following:
“I echo the statement made by the Chief of the Defence Staff and I wish to thank the Ombudsman and his staff for their work. Indeed the report provides a clear picture of military family life in Canada as well as additional insight into the condition of housing on military bases and wings. This will be extremely useful for the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Forces Housing Agency (CFHA) who are committed to ensuring that Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) families that opt to live in Crown housing enjoy a good quality of life, wherever they are posted. This includes a commitment to ensure that housing remains in good condition and is therefore an attractive option for CAF families.
“We acknowledge that housing units are aging and require upgrades. The report notes that 29 per cent of the housing portfolio was in poor condition; this was true in March 2012 and action has been taken to address the situation. In the last two fiscal years alone, CFHA invested $192 million into DND’s housing portfolio across the country. The latest condition assessment conducted in March 2013 determined that 19 per cent of the housing portfolio is now considered in poor condition. This means that while we still have a lot of work to do, there has been significant progress.
“These investments built on earlier commitments; over the past eight years, more than $550 million has been injected into the housing portfolio to improve housing condition and to introduce new or like-new homes. In the same period, CFHA invested an average of nearly $70 million every year, which has allowed for the construction of some 100 new houses, complete renovations to 690 others, as well as repair or renovation work to thousands more.”
