Privatization of military housing: the impact on recreation at Fort Hood, Texas.

Considerable shortages exist in adequate housing for military families. Of the more than 300,000 family homes the Department of Defense owns, more than 60 percent need repairs. To remedy this problem, privatization of military housing was introduced in 1996 to take advantage of private-sector funding and best practices to build, renovate, manage and maintain military housing. In June 2001, the Army approved a Community Development and Management Plan for Fort Hood, Texas, a 339-square-mile military installation approximately 60 miles north of Austin and 50 miles south of Waco, Texas. Fort Hood is the largest military installation in the U.S., and provides nearly 6,000 housing units for military personnel and their families. An unintended, but welcome, outcome of privatization at Fort Hood has been improved recreational opportunities for the base's residents.

When awarded this project, Actus Lend Lease, a subsidiary of Lend Lease Corporation, formed a 50-year limited partnership with the Army. This partnership, Fort Hood Family Housing, began the process to design and construct all residential community development at Fort Hood. The plan called for the construction of 974 new homes and renovation of more than 4,600 existing homes within the first fixe years of the 50-year project. In addition to managing housing on post, the plan calls for far-reaching neighborhood amenities such as recreation the facilities, landscaping and hiker-biker trail networks.

As at other military installations, Fort Hood's Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) division provides recreation facilities and programs on post. With the privatization of residences on Fort Hood, the MWR staff remains the primary source for recreation, but their work has been affected by the new arrangement. Actus makes design recommendations regarding green space and trail provisions and community and recreational facilities when developing new housing areas. The partnership operates with stipulated budgets specifically available for recreation facilities and landscaping. Thus, the privatization of housing on military bases affects both the availability and management of recreation resources.

Fort Hood and Actus embraced the opportunity to provide recreation opportunities on post as part of the privatization mandate to in improve quality of life. At Fort Hood, this included providing more than $8 million for park and recreation facilities and open-space development in addition to the housing developments.

Allotting Recreation Resources

Actus began to decide how to allot these funds by studying demographics on post. A brief was developed to provide information on existing demographics, the scope of current land development and what recreation opportunities MWR already provided. Project manager Justin Woodcock describes the process this way: "We don't just charge off with what we think is best. We start with a loose concept of what we would like to do. We set about doing research and analysis to determine where to best allocate the budget."

At Fort Hood, this research included a leisure-needs assessment questionnaire of all residents on post by researchers at Texas A&M University, and focus group meetings with village mayors, residents and administrators on post. Finally, expected population increases and housing development were assessed.

What resulted were recommendations that could vastly advance the quality of life on post. After thorough study, Actus recommended the construction of a community hub between two of the villages expecting population increases. This community hub would include a gymnasium, Web-access computer lab, swimming pool, Head Start classroom, open recreation fields, possible retail facilities and a housing office. In the established villages of Montague I, II and III, which boast a high teenage population, renovation of the existing youth center and construction of a new community center were recommended. For other established villages, play ground and community building upgrades were recommended. Paved trails linking recreation facilities and neighborhoods are already under construction.

Funding and Flexibility

Although some infrastructure recommendations dovetailed nicely with existing MWR plans, many challenges have arisen during the privatization of Fort Hood housing. For example, MWR and Actus had to deal with personnel and autonomy issues. In addition, Actus quickly realized that MWR personnel are expected to do a top-quality job in providing recreational staff, programs and facilities, but aren't always given adequate funding to do this.

It also took time for MWR personnel to realize that housing privatization brings with it significant additional funding for new facilities. Frequent meetings among MWR, Actus and the Army Partnership helped unite their respective visions and roles for recreation on post. Tim Partnership would provide the thinking and infrastructure for recreation on post, and MWR would make it happen. When Actus promised to negotiate improved access to existing and new school facilities, the excitement and cooperation improved. Finally, when both parties sat down to look at architectural plans for a new recreation center, the attitude shifted from "it won't work" to "we can find a way."

Finding a way at Fort Hdood meant negotiating staffing and maintenance responsibilities. Staffing, programming and maintaining these new facilities puts an extra load on MWR's already over-stretched budgets. At Fort Hood, a unique solution has been engineered to deal with these problems.

In some instances, Actus completes renovations to existing buildings, and returns management and programming duties to MWR. However, Fort Hood Family Housing maintains all new facilities it builds through a leasing provision.

More for Their Money

Despite the challenges associated with privatization, the concomitant benefits are immense. At Fort Hood, the Partnership is already working on providing new classrooms for Heat Start programs, providing access to an existing Killeen Independent School District park and improving pedestrian access to the existing Bronco Youth Center. Residents benefit from new first-class facilities built with the speed and expertise that a private contractor provides. Once the facilities are built, residents continue to benefit from having familiar MWR programs and personnel who call understand the challenges associated with military living. Finally, when MWR goes home at the end of the day, Fort Hood Family Housing can maintain the facility with longer operating hours without adhering to clientele quotas.

By coordinating master planning and budgets, MWR and Fort Hood Family Housing are on their way to providing top-notch parks and recreation to the community of residents living on post at Ft. Hood. A strong relationship has developed during the privatization. For example, MWR and Actus recently reviewed the 20-year budget and recreation projections for MWR. The organizations were able to pool resources and make some of these tentative plans a reality. Soccer fields are being laid out at Venable Village on post, which is something MWR had on its wish list tbr the next decade.

While residents benefit from improved leisure facilities and services, privatization can serve the greater goal of the U.S. military recruitment, readiness and retention of soldiers. Quality-of-life concerns such as housing, youth centers and recreation programs have demonstrated effects on morale and have been shown to impact soldier retention. Ensuring high-quality home life can aid readiness as deployed soldiers have peace of mind to concentrate on their duties. Actus also benefits from the new partnership with the military because besides expanding the scope of their projects, those involved at the grassroots gain a sense of satisfaction. As project manager Woodcock says, "When you specifically start to see the fruits of your labor benefiting families, you that you are really doing something good and worthwhile for others."

Kindal Shores Hunt is a graduate student in recreation and park administration at Texas A&M University. David Scott, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M. For more information about privatization and recreation at Fort Hood, contact Hunt at khunt@ rpts.tamu.edu.