H.R. 9564: Military Housing Innovation Act

This bill would not directly change military housing rules right away. Instead, it would require a federal study about whether military construction rules should be updated to allow a type of apartment-style building called a point-access block for certain military housing projects.

What the study would look at

The Comptroller General, working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, would have up to 18 months after enactment to study the costs and benefits of allowing this building design in the Pentagon’s construction code, known as the Unified Facilities Criteria/DoD Building Code.

The study would examine whether allowing this design could:

• Increase the quality and affordability of military housing.
• Affect local rental housing markets near military bases.
• Reduce spending on basic allowance for subsistence.
• Reduce the number of service members needing private housing by making it easier to build more military housing units.
• Affect design and construction costs for government-owned military housing.
• Make it easier to build on sites or lots that are otherwise difficult to develop.

Safety questions the study would cover

The study would also assess whether point-access block design affects:

• Life safety compared with other military housing designs.
• Fire safety features such as sprinklers, smoke detection, ventilation, and how people can exit the building during an emergency.
• Fire loss outcomes compared with military projects that do not use this design.

Required report to Congress

Within two years of enactment, the Comptroller General would have to send a report to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. That report would include:

• A summary of steps the Secretary of Defense could take to update the military building code to allow point-access block design.
• Any other recommendations related to using this design in military construction.

What counts as a covered project

The bill applies to residential or mixed-use military construction projects, including military family housing and unaccompanied housing for service members. The bill defines a point-access block building as a residential building with a single internal stairway serving all units, up to six stories tall.

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