Fort Campbell housing has heavy mold, spiders and roaches, say soldiers and their families

Residents of Fort Campbell on-post housing tell of heavy mold problems in their living spaces that keep them and their children chronically ill, as well as structural deficiencies, and a whole host of pests.

In a Tuesday evening town hall meeting about on-post housing problems that drew close to 200 people to the military installation's Wilson Theater, there were repeated accounts of homes teeming with everything from brown recluse spiders, to mice and roaches.

Many of the residents say the privatized system of managing on-post housing, through the firm, Campbell Crossing, has not been doing nearly enough to permanently correct the problems, and that historically, the typical approach when there is a response is putting a band-aid on problems to merely cover them up.

"We have mold in every bathroom in our house," said one resident, Katrise Newman, "and I have asthma, and an asthmatic daughter. When you call Campbell Crossing, all they say is, 'put bleach on it.' Bleach doesn't kill everything.

"Fort Campbell has nice housing on one side, and substandard on the other, and it's based on rank. It's not right, we're all here for the same reason.

"We pay $1,400 a month, to live in these conditions. Someone dropped the ball when you (Army) went with the lowest bidder on the housing contract. Something's got to give," Newman said.

Other residents said a lack of responsiveness on housing repairs and corrective action is not saving the Department of Defense money, when considering the related family doctor bills charged to Tricare insurance that continue piling up.

Heavy mold problems were the most-recurring theme during the town hall which ran for about three hours.

Army-wide private housing issues

For Fort Campbell's chain of command, the concern, officials said, is for the families who endure the wide-ranging housing problems, and for soldiers who are deployed and have the added distraction of having to worry about their family members back home who are dealing with them.

The invitation Tuesday was for soldiers and families to publicly air their grievances to the Army without fear of reprisal.

"We're troubled by the recent reports of substandard conditions in post housing," said Maj. Gen. Brian Winski, 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell commanding general, in the evening's opening remarks.

The town hall was called in response to an ongoing Army-wide effort to resolve "unsatisfactory conditions," as Fort Campbell officials have formally described it, in Army family housing.

In a recent statement, U.S. Secretary of the Army Mark Esper said federal and DoD officials are "deeply troubled by recent reports highlighting the deficient conditions in some of our family housing."

"It is unacceptable for our families who sacrifice so much to have to endure these hardships in their own homes," Esper said. "Our most sacred obligation as Army leaders is to take care of our people — our soldiers and our family members."

Esper said the Army's chain of command and private contractors will be held accountable in the weeks and months ahead "to ensure they are meeting their obligations to provide safe, high-quality family housing."

Campbell Crossing promises improvements

John Bredehoeft, project director for Campbell Crossing headquartered on post at 850 Georgia Ave., told The Leaf-Chronicle Wednesday morning, after hearing the residents' complaints the evening before, that the community can expect a swift, full-fledged response from his firm.

"Obviously it was concerning to hear all of that last night," Bredehoeft said, "but we welcome the feedback, and we are 100 percent committed to providing safe, healthy and quality homes for the soldiers and their families.

"We are going to review ourselves, and hold ourselves accountable. We actually started that process even before last night's town hall meeting, after the report from the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"We took good notes at the town hall, and we're now compiling all of them and will be reaching out to the residents," he said.

Barracks, older houses

Separately, the Army is also looking at problems reported with the quality of single-soldier barracks, particularly the older ones on the northern end of Fort Campbell.

Winski, joined by Col. Joseph P. Kuchan, Fort Campbell garrison commander, heard from numerous family housing residents, who all painted a troubling picture.

Ilse Zapata, for example, said both she and her husband have fallen down the stairs of their "older home" on post. She has tried to get the stairs repaired to no avail. When it happened to her more-recently, she was five weeks pregnant. Fortunately, everyone is OK.

There were also complaints about apparent problems with the family housing deployed spouse's program, in which services for pregnant Army spouses such as helping with lawn mowing haven't been provided.

And, there were comparisons drawn between "Section 8 low-income housing in big cities," and the current state of on-post housing.

Fort Campbell and Campbell Crossing officials are encouraging residents to contact them immediately with any on-post housing complaints. Here are some contact numbers:

• Campbell Crossings Work Order Line: 931-431-3966
• Fort Campbell Housing Complaint Hotline: 270-956-4728
• Anyone in the post's unit chain of command (Army families have those phone numbers easily accessible)

Reach Business Editor Jimmy Settle at 931-245-0247 and on Twitter @settle_leaf.

STAY INFORMED:Find more coverage of Fort Campbell and more in The Leaf Chronicle's free app