Army, RCI partner company leaders strengthen integration at housing summit
‘Housing remains a priority’ for leaders
In the midst of the Department of Defense’s COVID-19 global pandemic response, family housing remains a top priority for the Army, U.S. Army Installation Management Command and Residential Communities Initiative partner companies.
Lt. Gen. Douglas Gabram, commanding general, IMCOM, hosted Army senior leaders, garrison commanders from across the globe and privatized housing company executives for a three-day housing summit that started June 15.
The leaders met to further integrate their actions in anticipation of a summer surge in permanent change-of-station moves that will require thousands of housing occupancy transfers across the Army.
“Summer PCS moves have been delayed and will be compressed into a shorter timeline,” Gabram said during his opening comments. “This housing summit will facilitate quality of life for PCS’ing Army Soldiers and families during this summer’s move cycle by confirming installation-level plans to support housing transitions.”
‘Move Forward Together’
Gabram stated the theme for the summit is “Move Forward Together,” a phrase that captures the growing integration of Army and RCI leaders on behalf of Soldiers and their families.
“This integration is vital if we are to turn houses at a quality rate during the summer surge period,” said Lt. Gen. Ed Daly, the deputy commanding general of Army Materiel Command.
Gabram said each garrison commander and their local RCI partner will jointly update the group on their plans to address the backlog of routine housing work orders, post-COVID-19 related issues impacting this year’s summer surge, and housing scorecards that will provide a common framework to view privatized housing across the Army.
“This housing summit brings us together to share best practices, lessons learned and innovative ideas from our garrisons and different partner companies around the Army,” Gabram said.
The session on June 15 also included a video teleconference between Daly, Gabram, RCI executives and senior members of the Army staff involved in privatized housing. This group was scheduled to reassemble two days later to close out the summit.
Gabram was very clear about what will happen during this last session.
“We will summarize the list of things we need to accomplish and assign accountability and timelines for action,” he said. “Housing remains a priority and we are not going to let up.”
During his opening comments, Gabram listed a number of recent accomplishments by the summit participants, including reducing the number of displaced families in the Army from 178 last September to 43 today.