The Hunt Pinnacle building and development group has formally expressed interest in taking over the failed American Eagle housing projects at Air Force bases in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and Massachusetts, reports the Associated Press (via El Paso Times). Lawmakers have sharply criticized the Air Force for its handling of the situation that affected privatized housing developments at Hanscom AFB, Mass., Little Rock AFB, Ark., Moody AFB, Ga., and Patrick AFB, Fla.—and for selecting a housing developer with a history of problems. An amendment to the Fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill sponsored by Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) directed the Comptroller General to report on housing privatization developments that had fallen behind schedule or were in default, asking specifically for information about the history of such companies. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) met with Air Force officials last week to discuss the situation at Moody and called the session “a productive discussion” in an April 10 statement. Kingston said of the decision by Hunt Pinnacle, “The ball continues to inch forward, and, while I wish we were moving in yards rather than inches, the forward motion is better than where we were before.” Hunt Development, an El Paso, Tex., company, has developed and managed many of the military housing privatization efforts, including about 35 percent of USAF’s projects, according to Kingston.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.