Safe Military Housing Initiative (SMHI), a North Carolina 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, was established by military spouses advocating for military families who reside in unsafe/unhealthy housing. SMHI conservatively estimates that 30% or more of the 200,000+ military family homes either have—or are suspected—to have environmental hazards that can affect health adversely and structural problems that put a family's safety at risk.
SMHI focuses on two main tracks of advocacy:
Military families in distress who reach out to SMHI about their housing problems can connect with SMHI's caseworkers, who coordinate with the families and SMHI's partners and stakeholders to find solutions, including home assessments and remediation services for the families where applicable. SMHI caseworkers, who conduct walkthroughs of their clients' residences to document problems, have been coordinating with on-base housing management, PPVs, and remediators to help improve the housing conditions.
The 2019 Tenant Bill of Rights includes references in Point No. 12 to "prompt and professional maintenance and repair" and "repairs necessary to ensure habitability." Still, many families in military housing have reported that when they have managed to obtain remediation services, the work has been substandard or ineffective and does not solve their problems.
Some families experience additional distress when their reports of issues are not taken seriously, and their adverse health conditions continue.
SMHI is partnering with an independent company on a special project designed to provide participating military families the opportunity to diagnose their home's environmental and forensic conditions. Click here for more information on this exciting new venture.
Please consider donating to SMHI for this project!
Your donation can help participating military families obtain the scientific data they need at no cost to the families and enhance the chances of successfully resolving their housing-related problems to experience better health and improved quality of life.
Be a Military Housing Hero! Support the initiative to "Leave No Military Family in Unhealthy Homes."