COLORADO SPRINGS – A survey released by the Military Family Advisory Network shed light on cleanliness issues and the fact that some maintenance work orders weren’t getting resolved by private management companies across multiple military bases, including Fort Carson.
Fort Carson’s garrison commander says it all comes down to a breakdown in communication between the Army, Balfour Beatty, the private management company in charge, and residents. Currently, Fort Carson has 10,000 people living in family housing units.
Now, they plan to work together to increase accountability and make sure service-members and their families can feel safe inside their homes on post.
On the outside, you can see work being done to replace roofs on Fort Carson after they were destroyed by hail.
And currently, issues happening inside homes are also being addressed.
Back in March, the Evans family discovered mold inside their home.
They said it was ignored for weeks, and even when maintenance workers allowed them back in, “We weren’t fully feeling safe about it,” Sirenna Evans described. “There was still on the flooring, possibilities of moisture breeding questionable mold.”
But as they would soon discover, they weren’t alone in their concerns.
“It came to the Army’s attention in roughly January or February of this year that we were again failing at the task of providing safe family housing,” said Fort Carson garrison commander Colonel Brian Wortinger.
The Army Housing Office has committed to following up on any health and safety concerns with management company Balfour Beatty, checking vacated homes to make sure they’re in good condition, and following up on 5 percent of all work orders.
“We absolutely owe our service-members and their families the best quality housing that we can provide because they are my brothers and sisters.”
This increased accountability helped Melinda Thai get a leak inside her home fixed.
“Communication improved drastically,” she said. “I had three crews come in, they opened a hole in the wall. We found a pipe that had a hole in it. It was really nice to watch, I was really appreciative.”
And the Evans ended up getting placed in a new home.
“[We] are extremely relieved,” Sirenna said.
“It’s important for service-members to have a quality home to live in,” Sirenna’s husband, Sergeant Scott Evans, said.
“They give so much to this nation.”
There is also an online app to track work orders created by Balfour Beatty.
Since mid-February, they’ve completed about 11,000 work orders. Though they’re the first line of contact, the Army still encourages service-members with ongoing concerns to go to their chain of command for help.
