Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over ‘Shameful’ Military Housing Conditions at Fort Belvoir

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

The for-profit companies responsible for military housing at Fort Belvoir in suburban Washington, D.C. face a proposed class action lawsuit over the allegedly “shameful” conditions they’ve allowed to proliferate on the base. 

The 79-page lawsuit alleges Belvoir Land, LLC; Clark Realty and a “tangled web” of related entities “care more about their profit margins” than the servicemembers and their families living on the base. The case says the companies have continued to pocket residents’ basic allowances for housing (BAH) despite failing to address persistent water intrusion; mold, mildew and pest infestation problems; shoddy construction; and “unreliable” HVAC systems and appliances, among other “uninhabitable” conditions. 

“These conditions have been met with insufficient and untimely repairs and inadequate remediation, if at all,” the complaint reads. 

According to the lawsuit, Fort Belvoir is the largest in terms of size and population among the military bases surrounding Washington, D.C. Although the United States Army operates Fort Belvoir, whose reported population is 245,000 individuals living and working on the base, the on-base housing—2,154 three- to five-bedroom units spanning 15 housing villages—is privatized, the case says. 

The complaint charges that Clark Realty’s failure to properly develop and build, and The Michaels Organization’s failure to maintain and manage, the housing at Fort Belvoir has caused “widespread and well-known” mold problems that have subsequently been linked to serious health issues among residents. 

The suit relays that although the conditions at Fort Belvoir and other privatized military housing have sparked public outcry, congressional hearings and watchdog investigations, retroactive compensation to military servicemembers and their families has not been offered by the defendants. 

“The purpose of this lawsuit is to obtain such relief,” the case reads. 

Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Belvoir Land, LLC; Belvoir Manager LLC; Clark Realty Capital, L.L.C.; CEI Realty, Inc.; CEI Realty, LLC; Pinnacle Belvoir LLC; Fort Belvoir Residential Communities, LLC; Clark Realty Builders LLC; The Michaels Organization, LLC; and Michaels Management Services, Inc. 

The suit looks to represent all servicemember tenants based at Fort Belvoir who have entered into lease agreements with the Defendants for residential housing units within the five years prior to March 16, 2022, and all authorized adult family member spouses or other occupants. 

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.