Fort Bragg housing concerns include mold, structural decay
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (WTVD) -- ABC11 is hearing from one soldier who claims living on Fort Bragg isn't quite home sweet home.
"Things were not cleaned properly. It smelled of cat urine on the walls," the soldier said.
She wanted to keep her identity hidden because she is active duty. The soldier and mom of two claims that Corvias, the private military housing company, isn't doing its part when it comes to maintenance.
"We had damage where our ceiling was starting to cave in from a leak and we had three people come out and said 'we'll get a contractor, we'll get a contractor' and nothing was ever done," the mom told ABC11.
Hurricane Florence came shortly after, she said.
"After the hurricane, it actually collapsed; causing health issues. My husband was put in the hospital twice. He had to go to the ER. He's actually been diagnosed with permanent asthma," she said.
The soldier said Corvias did come out and fix the roof. But she said the first solution was a plastic bag duct-taped over the gaping hole.
The most recent fix, the soldier claims, was a patched-up roof that she fears could fall again. Turns out, she's not the only one with big concerns.
"I had multiple people reach back out to me saying, yes this is an issue, this is an issue," the soldier said.
A change.org petition with more than 2,000 supporters is calling on Fort Bragg to crack down on Corvias but Corvias is a private company that Bragg does not manage.
Fort Bragg released this statement to ABC11 through Adam Luther, Fort Bragg Garrison Public Affairs Officer:
"Fort Bragg leadership is committed to ensuring our families reside in safe and healthy living quarters. Unfortunately, some of our families have experienced significant issues with the privatized housing management team. We have engaged Corvias leadership to express our concerns and they have acknowledged the need for improvement. We are working closely with the privatized housing management team to identify issues and gain an understanding of their plan to ensure the needs of our families are met and their issues are resolved in a timely manner. We encourage our families to continue reporting issues to Corvias and unit leaders."
ABC11 asked Corvias for comment.
In a statement, the company responded:
"We don't make temporary repairs, unless we are waiting for a part on order. For any service call: if we can't make a "like new" repair, we replace the item.
Ms. (redacted)'s requests were treated with the same "repair like new or replace" level of service. She recently received an all-new vinyl floor and all service requests she submitted are complete.
If there are other issues we can address - for Ms. (redacted) or any resident - there are five different ways for residents to contact us."
The concerns have reached Washington where the Senate is preparing to grill the Department of Defense and its private housing contractors.
ABC11 reached out to Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, who provided this response from his office:
"As Chair of the Personnel Subcommittee, Senator Tillis has heard very troubling stories from servicemembers and families from across North Carolina's military installations about safety hazards in their homes. We should be doing all that we can to ensure that no Soldier, Airman, Sailor, Marine or their families have to worry about the safety of their homes while already volunteering to defend our freedoms. Senator Tillis plans to conduct rigorous oversight regarding these issues throughout the course of the upcoming year and throughout the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act process."
The hearing is expected to take place during the next few weeks.
