The Defence Housing Strategy, announced in November 2025, marks the most significant transformation of Armed Forces housing in more than 50 years. At the heart of this generational renewal, is the creation of the Defence Housing Service.
Leading this transition is Natalie Elphicke Ross OBE, who has been appointed Interim Chair of the Defence Housing Service. Natalie previously chaired the Defence Housing Strategy Review Team and will play a crucial role in leading the transition to the new organisation, ensuring it is ready to deliver for military personnel and their families from day one.
Natalie said:
“Our pride in our armed forces must include pride in our military homes. The Defence Housing Service must drive through a generational renewal to rebuild, refit and refurbish defence homes, meet military operational requirements and make service to military families central to the new organisation. That will be at the heart of my work as the first chair of the Defence Housing Service.”
The creation of a standalone, professional Defence housing organisation was a key recommendation of the £9 billion Defence Housing Strategy, published in November 2025. The Defence Housing Service is being established in law through the Armed Forces Bill and will be responsible for managing nearly 50,000 military homes across the UK.
Cat Calder, Army Families Federation, said:
“I worked closely with Natalie in the Defence Housing Review and know first-hand how determined she is to see improvements in Defence housing. I am pleased to see that she will continue this as the first chair of the Defence Housing Service. I look forward to continuing to work with Natalie and the whole DHS team to drive much better outcomes for service families.”
Following the latest AFCAS data shared in Families First last week, we are also pleased to see the latest polling data collected by Opinion Research Services show a rise in satisfaction among Personnel and families living in military homes.
Overall satisfaction with military homes has increased by 12 percentage points over the past year, with 75% of families now saying they are satisfied. The Defence Housing Service team is now benchmarking performance against social housing landlords, and the data shows that for the first time satisfaction is higher than the national average for civilian landlords.
While this indicates positive progress, we know further improvement is needed. Work to modernise and transform the Defence housing estate continues through the Defence Housing Strategy, which will see the renewal of nine in ten Forces homes across the UK, creating better homes, stronger communities, and a housing system fit for modern military families.