§ 2856a — Covered Military Unaccompanied Housing: Waivers Of Covered Privacy And Configuration Standards

(a) Effective March 2, 2024, any waiver of covered privacy and configuration standards shall be issued in accordance with the following: (1) A commander of a military installation desiring a waiver of covered habitability standards shall submit to the Secretary of the military department concerned a request for such waiver. (2) A Secretary of a military department may approve a request under subparagraph (A) only if such Secretary has exhausted all options available to such Secretary to provide housing that meets covered privacy and configuration standards, including the— (A) use of available privately-owned military housing; (B) modification of unit integrity goals to allow the use of each available unit of covered military unaccompanied housing that meets covered privacy and configuration standards; and (C) issuance of a certificate of nonavailability of covered military unaccompanied housing to allow eligibility for basic allowance for housing under section 403 of title 37. (3) An official described in paragraph (1) or (2) may not delegate the respective authorities under such paragraphs. (4) Any waiver of covered privacy and configuration standards issued pursuant to this paragraph shall terminate on the date that is 15 months after the date on which such waiver was issued. A Secretary of a military department may not renew any such waiver. (b) Not later than March 1, 2025, and annually thereafter not later than 15 days after the submission of the budget of the President to Congress pursuant to section 1105 of title 31, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the Senate and the Comptroller General of the United States a report on waivers issued under this section that includes— (1) the number of such waivers that were issued during the period covered by the report; (2) a plan to remedy the deficiencies, if any, of covered military unaccompanied housing that required the issuance of such a waiver; (3) a strategy to remedy issues, if any, caused by covered military unaccompanied housing that did not comply with such uniform standards; (4) a strategy to remedy the factors, if any, that require a commander of a military installation to submit to the applicable Secretary of a military department a request for consecutive waivers of such uniform standards, including a timeline for the implementation of such strategy; and (5) an analysis of strategies to remedy the factors described in paragraph (4), including— (A) projects to modernize existing covered military unaccompanied housing to comply with such uniform standards; (B) projects to construct new covered military unaccompanied housing; and (C) modifications to relevant policies of the Department of Defense, excluding such policies relating to infrastructure. (c) In this section, the term “covered privacy and configuration standard” means the minimum standards for privacy and configuration applicable to covered military unaccompanied housing described in Department of Defense Manual 4165.63 titled “DoD Housing Management” and dated October 28, 2010 (or a successor document).