Families sound alarm on toxic mold in military housing

[0:00] MILES O' Military families are sounding the alarm about the presence of toxic mold [0:04] in military housing. [0:06] It's an issue that's long been making service members and their families sick. [0:10] Stephanie Sy has our report on the ongoing problem and what is and isn't being done to [0:15] address it. [0:17] STEPHANIE SY, The Pentagon acknowledged last year that there are serious health concerns [0:21] related to base housing conditions, but families say the problems persist. [0:27] Families introduced in the House and Senate to address the problems so far haven't progressed. [0:32] There are a host of reasons why military families may be disproportionately at risk for the ill [0:38] effects of untreated mold infestations. [0:41] And we will get to that in a moment. [0:43] But first, hear what several families told us about how they're affected. [0:46] ERICA THOMPSON, I'm Erica Thompson, and I'm a 22-year military spouse. [0:51] My husband is in the Air National Guard. [0:54] We moved into military housing and right away we noticed some issues with the HVAC system. [1:00] And so we put in the proper service calls. [1:03] They came out and said, actually, you need a new HVAC system, but we can't afford to replace [1:08] it. [1:09] And so they said, get a dehumidifier. [1:11] We ended up buying 60 dehumidifiers and we were dumping about six gallons of water a day [1:15] just to keep it at 70% humidity in the house. [1:19] My name is Jenna Van Roekel. [1:20] I am a military spouse. [1:23] My husband's been in the military for the last nine years. [1:27] We have had two houses on base. [1:30] And there has been multiple issues within each house. [1:33] The first house had bugs and mold. [1:36] And the second house was also filled with mold and bugs. [1:41] My name is Deborah Rampona Oliver, and I was an Air Force military spouse of 24 years. [1:49] When we moved in, there were RID-X damp pots everywhere to kind of like suck the moisture [1:58] out of the air. [2:00] We would notice that in the bathrooms and in the guest room, mold would begin to grow on [2:07] the walls. [2:08] Our kids started getting headaches and feeling nauseous in certain rooms of the house. [2:13] And that was about six months into living there. [2:16] Our dog started having seizures. [2:18] Our four-year-old dog that was healthy and in good shape, that was very different. [2:24] All of a sudden seizures. [2:25] Within 10 days, our son started passing out. [2:28] So we're kind of all experiencing different medical issues and not understanding what's [2:32] happening. [2:33] I was experiencing some cardiac issues in the home and going to the doctor and trying to [2:38] figure out what's happening. [2:39] It caused a multitude of health issues. [2:44] Some more severe, some not. [2:46] Just on the non-severe side, headaches, exhaustion. [2:53] On the more severe side, it caused our brand new baby at 12 days old to go into SVT. [2:59] The highest beats per minute were 306. [3:03] And she had to have life-saving care in an ambulance with a defibrillator and a NICU stay. [3:09] We had condensation on the walls. [3:12] It was saturating my daughter's bed, which was up against the wall because the room was [3:19] rather small. [3:20] We had rats and I have pictures of rat chew marks all along the bottom of the door and [3:28] then shavings from where they were chewing. [3:30] We ended up buying our own dehumidifiers. [3:34] We noticed a huge amount of medical issues and symptoms after they opened the walls and [3:40] replaced the windows. [3:41] Kids started getting rashes on their faces and legs. [3:44] We have five kids and I homeschool, so we're at home most of the time. [3:48] The headaches were increasing, the nausea was increasing, GI issues. [3:53] I started getting very, very sick. [3:55] And I had always been a runner and always been very fit and was struggling to breathe. [4:03] And I ended up in the ER several times at VAMC. [4:09] And ultimately, we decided to get out of the military. [4:14] And then we also have our five-year-old and our six-year-old who have had reactive airway [4:19] diseases from, all the mold they have consumed and breathed in, a lot of sleeping problems [4:26] and anything that could go along with that. [4:29] This is not political. [4:31] This is a basic right, that somebody serving in the military should have healthy homes on [4:36] base. [4:37] The kids should be healthy. [4:38] Joining me now is Renee Klajik, a senior investigator at the Project on Government Oversight. [4:45] She's spoken to a lot of military families about this issue over the years. [4:50] Renee, there are hundreds of thousands of military families who live in base housing. [4:55] How widespread is the mold problem? [4:57] And how long has it been going on? [5:00] Housing advocates I've talked to have said that mold is the number one issue that these [5:06] families are facing. [5:07] And these advocates have worked with thousands of military families across the country. [5:10] I've also spoken with an attorney who specializes in military housing cases. [5:15] He says roughly 90% of his cases involve mold. [5:19] The military knows that this is a big problem. [5:22] I've done reporting on a coordinated effort that the army undertook called Operation Counter [5:27] Mold, where they were trying to battle mold in military housing and figure out a way to [5:32] tackle it more comprehensively. [5:34] But when it comes to data, we're really lacking in accurate data that would convey the true [5:42] scale of the mold problem. [5:44] As far as the pervasiveness, for what it's worth, Renee, a bipartisan bill to address this [5:50] issue says, quote, thousands of military families living in privatized military housing have been [5:56] exposed to hazardous environmental conditions, including widespread mold contamination due to [6:02] negligent maintenance practices and inadequate government oversight. [6:07] We contacted the Pentagon, by the way, and they have not responded. [6:11] But what are advocates asking for? [6:13] What have they told you about what families need most? [6:16] Well, military families face a lot of obstacles when it comes to seeking accountability and justice [6:24] when, say, they've lost everything they own due to mold contamination. [6:28] And the main thing that the housing advocates are working for is to try to make these families [6:33] whole again in whatever form that means. [6:36] Maybe it's, you know, getting appropriate health coverage to ensure that the health issues that [6:41] they've faced are being addressed, getting some financial remuneration for lost belongings, [6:48] and also just getting them out of unsafe and unhealthy housing fundamentally. [6:53] But like I said, there's been a lot of barriers with the housing companies in terms of making that happen. [6:59] Expand on that a little bit. [7:01] Why is this problem so pervasive and hard to tackle, as opposed to how you might see it handled in the civilian world, [7:08] where you're not talking about federally owned property? [7:12] Sure. So it's important to note that this problem is not new. Today, 99% of military family housing [7:23] is owned and operated by private companies. The reason that we privatized military housing was [7:29] because there were problems in the housing when it was run by the Pentagon. So back in the 90s, [7:35] the Department of Defense privatized military housing because they had a $20 billion maintenance backlog, [7:41] and they thought they could eliminate that maintenance backlog in housing and also save [7:46] taxpayers money on the cost of military housing by injecting private capital. Unfortunately, [7:52] neither of those things have come to pass. Today, my analysis found that there's currently a nearly $7 [7:58] billion maintenance backlog in military housing, and it's more than quadrupled since 2017. Also, [8:05] there was a recent report by the Congressional Research Service that found that privatized military [8:09] housing has ultimately been more expensive for taxpayers. I think it's important to know there [8:15] are some fundamental differences between housing when you live in civilian housing versus military [8:20] housing. When you live in military housing, your landlord and your boss are in a business partnership. [8:25] So when it comes to the potential for retaliation, which is something that I've heard from families that [8:31] I've interviewed, you know, there is a possibility that when you, a military family, speaks out about [8:37] housing issues and complaints, their chain of command could get involved. They could face professional [8:42] consequences for speaking out. So there's some very real disincentives for families to speak out [8:47] and seek accountability. And that's just like one of those kind of unique factors of military housing. [8:54] You know, there's no federal mold standard. Does that complicate legal recourse for families, [9:00] some of which I know have tried to sue? [9:02] It absolutely makes it more difficult for the families to seek accountability through the courts. [9:09] The absence of a federal mold standard for what is and isn't a safe level of mold in housing, [9:17] you know, makes it more difficult to prove like this is the cause of my problems. [9:21] So that's a real problem that the families have faced. And you have to remember, too, [9:25] that these families are going up against multi-billion dollar real estate conglomerates [9:31] in the courts. So they already face a wide range of hurdles when it comes to fighting these cases. [9:36] And then in the absence of that federal mold standard, it just makes it all the more difficult. [9:40] That is Renee Klajic with the Project on Government Oversight. [9:45] Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your reporting with our viewers. [9:48] Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. [9:50] Support journalism you trust. Support PBS News. [10:06] Donate now or even better, start a monthly contribution today.