The Ministry of Defence has published the Defence Housing Strategy 2025, setting a ten‑year £9bn programme to upgrade more than 40,000 Service Family Accommodation homes, with around 14,000 to be rebuilt or substantially refurbished. Officials frame this as the largest renewal of armed forces housing in over 50 years; the strategy was released on 3 November 2025 following announcements earlier that week.
A new standalone Defence Housing Service will manage the estate in public ownership, strengthen accountability for standards and repairs, and embed a ‘Forces First’ approach. According to the department, the service will support families and veterans and open new routes into home ownership linked to the strategy.
The funding profile is supported by savings from the Annington Homes transaction, which completed on 9 January 2025. The deal returned 36,347 properties to public ownership and ended rental payments estimated by the government at more than £600,000 per day; ministers say those savings will be recycled into estate renewal alongside the £9bn programme.
Delivery commitments span a decade. The MOD says nine in ten homes will be upgraded to a higher standard, with major works for about 14,000 properties. Early actions focus on the poorest stock: improvements to 1,000 homes are due by the end of December 2025, and a simplified two‑stage complaints process took effect on 1 October 2025.
Standards will be driven by the Consumer Charter for Forces Families announced in April. The charter sets clearer move‑in requirements, quicker repairs and named housing officers, with performance reporting to follow so that families can track delivery.
The strategy also points to a long‑term opportunity to bring forward more than 100,000 new homes for civilian and military families on surplus defence land. A proposed Defence Development Fund would reinvest receipts from disposals into future projects to create a rolling programme of renewal.
Eligibility for military housing will widen to reflect modern family life, including couples in long‑term relationships and non‑resident parents. While additional homes are built, an interim rental support scheme will help personnel to secure private tenancies. Selected surplus sites will also pilot ‘Forces First’ sales, giving serving personnel and veterans priority access to a proportion of new homes agreed locally between the MOD, the planning authority and the developer.
Funding in this Parliament includes measures trailed earlier in the year to tackle immediate problems such as poor condition and slow repairs, with the government also describing a record uplift in defence spending underpinning the wider programme.
Wales features in the early programme. The MOD lists 801 Service Family Accommodation properties in Wales, with rapid works underway at 107 homes across mid and west Wales. Government figures also report £1.1bn in defence spending in the last year, supporting an estimated 3,900 Welsh jobs-around £340 per person.
Policy Wire analysis: For housing and planning teams, the immediate watchpoints are establishment of the Defence Housing Service, publication of a detailed stock survey and delivery plan, and confirmation of the Defence Development Fund’s operating model. Site‑level frameworks-covering tenure mix, phasing and delivery responsibilities-will follow as surplus land is brought forward.