July 15, 2026 - Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released new data from the Department of Defense (DoD) revealing a 347 percent increase in the use of DoD-approved nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) by private landlords in settlements with service members and military families. 

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth

The new data comes in response to Senator Warren’s December 2025 letter pressing DoD on its failure to properly implement a housing complaint database and formal dispute resolution process for residents in privatized housing on military bases across the country.

“For too long, the DoD has allowed privatized military housing companies to silence military families, forcing them to deal with dangerous living conditions,” said Senator Warren. “Our troops and their families deserve better. I’ve got a bill to make sure military families have access to safe housing and don’t have to live in fear of retaliation for reporting unsafe living conditions — it’s time to get this done.”

DoD’s responses revealed that NDAs were used in housing dispute settlements 15 times in 2020, 19 times in 2021, 38 times in 2022, 35 times in 2023, 56 times in 2024, and 67 times in 2025 — a 347 percent increase over five years. DoD also revealed that it conducts a “direct review” of each NDA before it is finalized, raising concerns that the Department is complicit in silencing military families. 

According to DoD, private military housing companies are not required to inform residents of their rights or publicly post information about the DoD Housing Feedback System (DHFS), a formal dispute resolution process for residents facing inadequate housing conditions. 

The Department also confirmed that it does not provide private military landlords with guidelines on how to resolve tenant feedback, potentially contributing to unresolved housing issues for tenants. 

Senator Warren has introduced the Restore Military Families’ Voices Act, which would put an end to these practices by prohibiting private military landlords from requesting that tenants sign an NDA and strengthening tenant protections against landlord retaliation. The bill is included in the House and Senate versions of the FY2027 NDAA. Senator Warren also secured language in the Senate’s FY2027 NDAA that would prohibit DoD from suppressing or altering tenant complaints submitted through the DHFS.

Senator Warren has long sounded the alarm about problems with privatized military housing and has led the push to protect military families:

• In June 2026, U.S. Senators Warren (D-Mass.) and Ossoff (D-Ga.), along with Representative Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) led the reintroduction of the Restore Military Families’ Voices Act, which would bar private military housing companies from requesting that tenants sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) as a condition of housing and related services. The bill would also strengthen existing tenant protections against landlord retaliation in private military housing. 
• In February 2026, Senator Warren published new responses from the DoD revealing the Department had entered into another 50-year-lease to extend the privatization of military barracks at Fort Irwin, removing accountability measures and threatening to cause housing quality problems for servicemembers.
• In December 2025, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth with concerns that the Department of Defense (DoD) is failing to properly implement a housing complaint database and the formal dispute resolution process for service members and families living in privatized housing on military bases around the country.
• In September 2025, Senator Warren pressed Department Secretary Pete Hegseth for answers about the potential privatization of military barracks, given the long history of substandard conditions and exploitative practices by providers of privatized military family housing.
• In April 2025, Senator Warren pressured Trump’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, Dale Marks, to commit to holding private military housing landlords accountable.
• In February 2025, Senators Warren and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) urged the Department of Defense to investigate whether landlords were utilizing RealPage price-setting software to artificially raise rents for military families.
• In December 2024, Senator Warren and Representative Jacobs reintroduced the Military Housing Oversight and Service Member Protection Act, which would comprehensively reform the privatized military housing system.
• In July 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) led colleagues in calling out the Department of Defense (DoD) for failing to protect military families living in housing operated by private companies under the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI).
• In May 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren led an annual hearing highlighting personnel priorities for the DoD and called for increased investments in military services, including military housing and child care, for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025.
• In April 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Army Secretary Christine Wormuth on the need to increase military housing supply and the damaging impact of non-disclosure agreements between private landlords, servicemembers, and their families on housing safety at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
• In December 2023, Senator Elizabeth Warren announced further enforcement of the Tenant Bill of Rights for military families as one of the key priorities passed in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2024, as well as the creation of a working group made up of DoD officials and military families to ensure ongoing oversight of deficiencies in privatized military housing.
• In December 2023, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin requesting information on the DoD’s plans to address the unhealthy prevalence of mold, lead-based paint, and asbestos in housing for America’s servicemembers.
• In October 2023, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin raising concerns that Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) families had to pay out of pocket to modify their homes to meet their families’ needs and asking for additional information about DoD’s oversight of the program.
• In June 2023, Senator Elizabeth Warren, along with other Senate Armed Services Committee members, announced the reintroduction of the bipartisan Military Housing Readiness Council Act, which would provide a platform for oversight and accountability of privatized military housing to give military families a voice and bring together experts to ensure military families have the safe housing they deserve.
• In December 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren and other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressing concern over reports that military families are being forced to sign non-disclosure agreements with privatized military housing companies in order to receive compensation for poor housing conditions.
• In December 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren announced she had secured provisions in the FY 2023 NDAA to require military housing companies to disclose mold and the health effects of mycotoxins before a lease is signed. 
• In August 2022, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) introduced the Military Housing Readiness Council Act, legislation that would ensure oversight and accountability on safe housing conditions for servicemembers and military families. The legislation would create a Military Housing Readiness Council composed of DoD officials, servicemembers, military families, and military housing experts to ensure ongoing oversight of deficiencies in privatized military housing.
• In June 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren announced the Military Housing Oversight and Service member Protection Act as one of her key priorities for the FY 2023 NDAA. The proposal would ensure medical care for military families affected by unsafe housing by directing DoD to establish a health registry for all servicemembers and families and establishing a presumption of service-connected disability for servicemembers and lifetime medical care for dependents.
• In February 2022 during a Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing, Elizabeth Warren pressed Pentagon nominees for tough oversight as they improve military housing conditions
• In July 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren announced improving military housing as one of her key priorities for FY 2022 NDAA. 
• In January 2021, during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren asked then-Defense Secretary Austin for his public commitment to respond and make her requests about military housing issues a priority In March 2021, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) wrote to Defense Secretary Austin, and Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, continuing the lawmakers’ investigation into whether the largest military housing providers under the Military Housing Privatization Initiative are complying with federal laws that protect Americans with disabilities.
• In December 2020, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) questioned the five largest private military housing providers about their reported failure to provide adequate housing to families with disabilities.
• In May 2019, Senator Elizabeth Warren released the findings from her three-month-long investigation of the Military Housing Privatization Initiative and of five private companies that have contracts with the military services to provide on-base housing under the program. She sent letters to then-SASC Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and then-Ranking Member Jack Reed, and to the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, to provide each with the results of her investigation, revealing how and why private military housing developers failed to meet basic housing standards, which in some cases resulted in severe health problems for military families.
• In April 2019, Senator Elizabeth Warren and then-Representative Deb Haaland introduced the Military Housing Oversight and Service Member Protection Act, a comprehensive bill to address a series of disturbing reports revealing unsafe and unsanitary conditions in privatized, on-base housing for military personnel and their families.

Source: Senator Elizabeth Warren