A September 2025 Department of Defense Inspector General audit of seven Hunt Military Communities installations found that housing offices lacked the tools and procedures needed to prevent and detect mold. At one installation, inspectors found windows had been sealed shut to block access to aging lead-based paint — preventing ventilation and limiting escape routes during a fire or emergency.
The OIG told Military.com that housing officials lacked devices to check humidity levels in homes and were not inspecting attics or crawl spaces, “areas where mold can grow without families seeing it.” The audit also found that each military service uses its own definitions for life, health, and safety hazards and categorizes work orders differently, meaning a problem considered urgent at one base might be labeled routine at another. As the audit put it: “The Military Services are providing disparate levels of service for families residing at different locations.”
Families at two installations — Randolph Air Force Base and Fort Sam Houston — reported past mold or water-intrusion problems before Hunt Military Communities completed remediation work. Separately in 2025, several MacDill Air Force Base families filed a lawsuit after discovering what they described as extremely high mold levels behind walls and inside HVAC systems. In 2024 alone, the Air and Space Forces recorded more than 4,500 mold-related reports in privatized housing.
A separate DoD OIG evaluation focused entirely on mold hazards in privatized military housing will run into 2026. Published November 28, 2025 by Military.com. Read the full article.