Thousands of active-duty U.S. military service members and their families living in privatized military housing across the country are facing issues related to the unaddressed presence of mold in their homes, according to a new investigation by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO).

Their findings, published in POGO (and in Rolling Stone) on Oct. 24 by investigative reporter René Kladzyk, showcases the experiences of several families in dealing with the physical and mental health consequences of toxic mold. It also underscores the complex relationship between these families, the U.S. military, and the issues stemming from privatized military family housing.

In an interview with Responsible Statecraft, Kladzyk expanded on this complexity, underscoring “all the different ways that this impacts someone who's living in a house that they think has mold, especially when it's difficult to prove if that's the cause of your problems.”

“All you know is that you're sick, or maybe your kids are sick, and you're trying to figure out what's going on,” she continued. “And then trying to confront a bureaucratic behemoth that involves your boss, who is also connected to your housing.”

Advocacy groups and reporters alike have exposed both the prevalence and the harms of mold in military housing installations around the country. According to Safe Military Housing Initiative director Jean Coffman, mold is the “number one” housing issue that military families face today. Gaps in federal standards, however, let the U.S. military and the housing companies it employs avoid both testing and meaningful remediation.

Compounding the issue is the private ownership of military housing, run by companies that have been consistently caught in controversy, scandals and lawsuits from service members due to poor living conditions and fraud. Privatization also makes accountability more difficult, Kladzyk said, as the “chain of actors” expands and fingers point in all directions.

Although difficult to directly prove, the effects of toxic mold can be staggering, both in severity and variety. Mycotoxins, the compounds produced by some types of mold, are linked to a wide range of conditions from asthma and depression to birth defects and cancer.

A U.S. Army spokesperson confirmed that at least 20,000 mold-related work orders have been placed for Army buildings (private housing units, barracks and other Army facilities) since October 2022, but further detail on the breadth of this issue is closely guarded.

Kladzyk said the spokesperson declined to provide more detail or provide a narrower range than “more than 20,000” despite confirming that the Army has detailed data on mold-related work orders, maintenance costs and military family housing.

“Transparency is a key facet of being able to hold people accountable when you know what's actually happening,” she said. “Right now, we're in a situation where there are so many challenges with even being able to understand the true scale of the problem because of lack of transparency.”

Kladzyk recently obtained internal documents via a Freedom of Information Act request related to a 2023 “counter-mold workshop” hosted by the Army Installation Management Command. The workshop included strategies for communicating with both families and the public about mold issues — including “viewing mold as a normal part of life.” She said the approach was one of avoidance.

“[For the] language on army messaging about the mold problem, one suggestion was to emphasize the personal responsibility of a soldier,” Kladzyk said.

“They're blaming it on individual service members being messy or [irresponsible], instead of, ‘Oh, maybe we have a systemic problem in terms of how these buildings are being maintained.’”

For these families, the obvious solution appears to be moving to a new home not under contract with the military. A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), however, illustrates the difficulties of finding affordable housing near many U.S. military bases.

“[The Department of Defense] collects some information but does not routinely assess the negative financial and quality-of-life effects that limited supply or unaffordable housing has on affected service members,” the report states.

In the report, the GAO calls on the Department of Defense to provide a list of “critical housing areas,” resources for families facing financial or quality-of-life issues and coordination with local communities.

Lawmakers are taking some strides to address this issue, such as an amendment proposed to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act requiring studies and high standards on mold in military housing. Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recently introduced legislation pushing for higher standards of transparency for the Department of Defense in reporting on its military housing conditions.

In a May piece published by Mother Jones, Coffman discusses paths forward, arguing that tenants need to have a genuine choice between on- and off-base housing in order to create competition and motivate housing companies to provide better maintenance.

As of now, though, thousands of military families put up with dangerous conditions in their homes and few feasible alternative living options.