Title 10Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§2851a Supervision of military housing by Chief Housing Officer

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - General Military Law › Part PART IV— - SERVICE, SUPPLY, AND PROPERTY › Chapter CHAPTER 169— - MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND MILITARY FAMILY HOUSING › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - ADMINISTRATION OF MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND MILITARY FAMILY HOUSING › § 2851a

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment must serve as the Chief Housing Officer. That person will oversee family housing and unaccompanied military housing owned by or built under subchapter IV (called "covered housing units"). The Chief Housing Officer must manage all parts of providing those homes. That includes making and standardizing policies and running DoD-wide housing policies, and coordinating with the military department Secretaries on the housing papers made under section 2890 (the Military Housing Privatization Initiative Tenant Bill of Rights and Tenant Responsibilities). These duties cannot be passed to someone else.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §2851a

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment shall serve as the Chief Housing Officer, who shall oversee family housing and military unaccompanied housing under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense or acquired or constructed under subchapter IV of this chapter (in this section referred to as “covered housing units”).
(b)(1)The Chief Housing Officer shall oversee all aspects of the provision of covered housing units, including the following:
(A)Creation and standardization of policies and processes regarding covered housing units.
(B)Oversight of the administration of any Department of Defense-wide policies regarding covered housing units, to include, in coordination with the Secretaries of the military departments, the housing documents developed pursuant to section 2890 of this title entitled Military Housing Privatization Initiative Tenant Bill of Rights and Military Housing Privatization Initiative Tenant Responsibilities.
(2)The duties specified in paragraph (1) may not be further delegated.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2022—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 117–263 amended subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “(1) The Secretary of Defense shall designate, from among officials of the Department of Defense who are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, a Chief Housing Officer who shall oversee family housing and military unaccompanied housing under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense or acquired or constructed under subchapter IV of this chapter (in this section referred to as ‘covered housing units’). “(2) The official of the Department of Defense designated as Chief Housing Officer may be assigned duties in addition to the duties as Chief Housing Officer under subsection (b).” 2021—Pub. L. 116–283, § 2811(a)(3), renumbered section 2890a of this title as this section. Pub. L. 116–283, § 2811(a)(2), inserted “Supervision of military housing by” before “Chief” in section catchline. Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 116–283, § 2811(a)(1)(A), substituted “family housing and military unaccompanied housing under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense or acquired or constructed under subchapter IV of this chapter (in this section referred to as ‘covered housing units’)” for “housing units”. Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 116–283, § 2811(a)(1)(B)(ii), inserted “covered” before “housing units” in subpars. (A) and (B). Pub. L. 116–283, § 2811(a)(1)(B)(i), substituted “covered housing units” for “housing under subchapter IV and this subchapter” in introductory provisions.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Notification of Designation Pub. L. 116–92, div. B, title XXX, § 3012(b), Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 1921, provided that not later than 60 days after Dec. 20, 2019, the Secretary of Defense was to notify the Committees on Armed Services and Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the official of the Department of Defense designated as Chief Housing Officer under this section. As amended by Pub. L. 117–263, subsec. (a) of this section provides that the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment shall serve as the Chief Housing Officer.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 2851a

Title 10Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73