Accommodation
Royal Air Force Housing Policy Statement
By the nature of its operational role, the Royal Air Force requires its personnel to be mobile. Servicemen and women can expect to serve in a variety of locations in the United Kingdom and abroad in the course of a career, and there will be periodic detachments, mainly to overseas locations, both for training and for operational deployments. The primary Service interest is that uniformed personnel should be available to meet the operational need, which demands flexibility to deploy manpower wherever and whenever necessary. This requires Royal Air Force personnel to be widely trained, experienced and to have their domestic affairs in order.
While the Royal Air Force does not seek to impose upon the ability of personnel to choose where their families should live, the natural wish of most married personnel to be accompanied by their families has clear benefits to the Service. The corporate spirit and mutual support which a closely-knit RAF community provides is crucial to unit cohesion, morale and operational effectiveness, particularly in the current 'Expeditionary Force' posture. Consequently, the MoD provides Service Families Accommodation at or near RAF bases for the use of those who do not wish to purchase their own homes, or whose circumstances preclude such purchase. At the same time, the Royal Air Force recognises the desirability of local private ownership among those personnel who wish to purchase their own homes during their service.
The importance of the MoD provision of housing cannot be overstated. The personal mobility, which is so essential to the development of the skills and experience, which the Royal Air Force requires to meet its operational commitments, imposes a heavy burden on its personnel and their families. Many RAF stations are in relatively remote locations, sometimes in places where people would not normally wish to live, sometimes with insufficient housing in the local community, and sometimes with particular security considerations. Such factors make it unreasonable, and often completely impractical, to expect our people to meet their own housing requirements - and then repeat this every 2 to 3 years as they are posted. Moreover, the huge variations in private housing costs, which can occur between different locations, would frequently preclude house purchase for many personnel. Were MoD housing not provided, accompanied service would be made much more difficult to achieve, if not impossible for many, which would inevitably have an adverse effect on retention and, as a consequence, unacceptable indirect recruiting and training cost implications.
In addition, the increasing incidence of operational deployments, with their inherent dangers and stresses, has highlighted the importance to the morale, and hence the effectiveness of our personnel, of our being able to look after their dependants properly in their absence. Ready access to on-base facilities and support is vital, as is making them feel part of the community and ensuring that they have someone to turn to in the event of problems. Above all, when their loved ones are in danger, dependants must not feel isolated and, in the worst case, should the Serviceman be captured, injured or killed, full support must be immediately available. All of these facilities can be readily provided from the resources of an RAF base; provision to a widely dispersed group of dependants is both less effective and less efficient.
In summary, the Royal Air Force demands a great deal of its people and their families. If it is to retain their services and maintain their operational effectiveness, ready availability of good quality housing at an affordable cost is essential. Given the frequency of movement which the Service requires and the wide variations in both availability and price of housing adjacent to RAF stations, to rely on individuals to provide for their needs from the private sector is neither practical nor, for many individuals, affordable. There is, therefore, a continuing need for MoD housing.
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