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‘Trailblazing’ advocates start rebuilding trust in privatized housing

Photo showing now hiring privatized housing resident advocates

The Air Force recently added resident advocates to its team to be a key link between military family housing residents and housing offices, as well as a direct conduit to installation leadership. The “Super Liaisons” will help the Air Force improve customer service and build trust in the housing program among residents enterprise-wide. (U.S. Air Force photo)

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- The Department of the Air Force welcomed its first group of Resident Advocates June 15 with a clear mandate: rebuild trust in the privatized housing program.  

The Air Force established the RA positions as part of a sweeping effort to improve privatized housing customer service and quality. Sixty new resident advocates will be hired in the next year to support more than 60 installations. Resident Advocates are the keystone to the privatized housing program’s future success.

“Thank you for stepping up and serving in this special position,” Hon. John W. Henderson, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Environment, Installations, and Energy, told a group of more than 30 advocates during a virtual training session. “Our Air Force housing program professionals have always served as advocates for our residents, but you all are being asked to lead the full-time focus of gaining back resident trust and confidence in the privatized housing program."

Henderson made his remarks at the beginning of a week-long virtual training program for advocates to develop skills in problem solving, partnering with base resources, dispute resolution, basics of the privatized housing program, improvement initiatives, and roles and responsibilities to create situational awareness as they step into the role. 

Henderson described Resident Advocates as the embodiment of the enterprise’s commitment to its residents to do better.

The Air Force expects most bases will have resident advocates who are positioned to act as “super liaisons” between the tenant and the Military Housing Office, project owner, wing commander, medical team, security forces, legal assistance office and others, said Robert Moriarty, director of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center/Installations Directorate.  

“This group of Resident Advocates are the Air Force’s pathfinders,” said Col. Michael Beach, chief of the Air Force’s privatized housing program. “They will tell us what works and what doesn’t in their roles and significantly influence how the housing program operates in the future.”

Being the boots on the ground in the housing communities across the Air Force, the Resident Advocates will become that friendly face residents come to know and trust, Beach said. They will be positioned to spot the issues not visible from behind a desk and bring them to the wing commander’s and Air Force leadership’s attention to take corrective attention quickly. They also provide continuity as leadership changes every few years and ensure that no family feels alienated in those leadership shifts.

“Through the week’s training, you all will become competent sources of information for residents and leadership alike,” said Henderson. “As good stewards of resident trust, your actions will speak louder than your words and we all look forward to seeing the resident advocates demonstrate the Air Force’s commitment to the housing program’s improvements.”

He said advocacy is a two-way street.  

“We ask our residents to provide real-time feedback to the resident advocates and their leadership to help ensure, as we grow and develop these positions, that we are meeting the needs of our residents,” Henderson said.