Navy seeks innovative solutions for base housing crunch

The Navy is exploring an array of creative solutions to combat a housing shortage at training bases: sailors in extended-stay hotels, in converted retail buildings, in group housing, in recreational vehicles; even sailors in houseboats “where locally feasible.”

The Navy’s list of suggested possible housing ideas, which also will provide temporary beds at bases where barracks are being built, is contained in a “Request For Information” (RFI) posted July 24 on the federal contracting website, SAM.gov.

“Our sailors are our most critical asset, and providing them with safe, clean, and comfortable living quarters is a fundamental responsibility,” Vice Adm. Scott Gray, the commander of Navy Installations Command, said in a statement July 24 announcing the RFI.

An RFI is used to gauge interest and options and doesn’t obligate the Navy to issue a follow-up solicitation or acquisition strategy.

The Navy said it hopes to “understand the range of solutions available to rapidly provide safe, habitable, code-compliant temporary accommodations.”

A photo montage of military housing concepts accompanying a Navy RFI request for ideas on unaccompanied sailor barracks at 10 installations around the U.S. (U.S. Navy)

Construction of Navy barracks was spurred by $375 million in one-time funds in the 2025 omnibus bill. The 2027 budget proposal from the Pentagon asks for $12.5 billion for military housing across all services.

In the RFI, the Navy forecasts it will be between 3,950 and 5,800 beds short of its housing needs for major training centers in Great Lakes, Ill.; Meridian, Miss.; and Pensacola and Panama City, Fla.

The Navy reported recruiting more than 45,000 sailors in Fiscal Year 2026, exceeding its goal three months ahead of schedule.

The Navy says it also needs up to 6,100 temporary beds around Norfolk and Newport News, Va.; San Diego and central California; Hawaii; and the Pacific Northwest for sailors displaced by barracks renovations.

“Comprehensive upgrades require significant structural work,” the Navy said. “To safely conduct the deep renovations needed to modernize aging facilities, entire barracks must be vacated.”

While the new barracks are built, the Navy is seeking temporary homes for sailors for one to two years.

“Utilizing temporary housing, which are often referred to as swing space, is a critical step,” the Navy said in a statement. “It allows the Navy to proceed with massive construction projects on schedule while ensuring Sailors are not displaced into subpar accommodations during the transition.”

With availability of off-base housing already tight in many locations, the Navy’s RIF says it is open to “innovative or conceptual models that leverage past proven experience, such as adaptive reuse, stackable modular concepts or integrated campus‑style housing,” according to the RFI. “Respondents may combine solution types across installations or offer a single approach for specific locations.”

In the past, an option for the Navy when it had too few beds was to have ship’s personnel live aboard while in homeports or shipyards.

But Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle in September 2025 issued a “No Sailor Will Live Afloat” edict to curb the practice, which the Navy has said undercuts sailor morale and well-being.

“You are my priority, and I need you focused on the fight,” Caudle said.

The Navy said it will accept information on the RFI through Aug. 24.