Jackie Talarico said she grew tired of being harmed by her home. Now, the Navy wife says she is taking her former landlords to court.

“Our houses are not our safe place,” said Talarico. “We were told there was no mold in our house. We were told there was no lead. We were told there is no asbestos, and they lied.”

Talarico used to live in privatized military housing while her husband, a U.S. Navy cryptologic technician, was stationed at Naval Air Station Key West in Florida.

Talarico documented issues from mold to water damage, and said the ceiling collapsed in her child’s bedroom. Once repaired, Talarico said it began to cave in again.

The Talaricos and nearly 200 current and former tenants in the Florida Keys are now suing Balfour Beatty, one of the largest privatized military housing providers in the United States. The lawsuit alleges Balfour Beatty “systematically failed to properly repair and remediate significant problems in the homes, including water damage, mold, structural defects, HVAC, plumbing issues, electrical problems and the presence of lead paint and asbestos.””We are aware of the lawsuit and intend to defend ourselves vigorously,” Balfour Beatty Communities said in a statement to ABC News.

A spokesperson for Balfour Beatty Communities said, “The health, safety, and well-being of our residents is our top priority. NAS Key West’s climate creates an environment that is more conducive to mold growth than other areas of the country.”

In 2021, Balfour Beatty pleaded guilty to fraud in a federal case, accused of falsifying maintenance records of military housing, having to pay more than $65 million after prosecutors said they “lied about the repairs to pocket millions of dollars in performance bonuses” from the military.

The current case from Key West involves one of the 14 current private-sector military housing providers across the U.S. According to the Military Housing Association, currently about 99% of military family housing in the United States is owned and operated by private companies.

“Our servicemembers give so much every day and put so much on the line for our country, one thing they should not have to sacrifice is their children and their families’ life, health and safety when they do that every day for the rest of America,” Talarico said.

Talarico joined other military wives on Capitol Hill in April to advocate for a Senate bill that would conduct studies on the health effects of mold growth in military installations.

“My number one fear throughout this has always been my husband’s career,” said Talarico. “Luckily his command has been nothing but supportive.”

When the Department of Defense decided to get out of the housing business in 1996, it received Congressional approval to engage private investors with expertise to renovate or replace old, inadequate housing, establishing the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI). The contracts were often decadeslong to incentivize the massive undertaking, according to congressional research. Since the implementation during the defense cuts of 1996, some housing conditions have seemingly deteriorated, sparking Senate hearings in 2019 for reforms.

The Department of Defense’s inspector general acknowledged in a 2024 report that mismanagement of living facilities, including reports of environmental hazards, such as mold, could impact the health and readiness of the military, including recruitment and retention, across all types of military housing.

The report cited GAO’s 2023 findings that the DoD has taken steps “to increase assistance to residents of privatized housing, ensure the DoD has adequate personnel to conduct oversight activities and improve the Dod’s oversight of the condition of private housing units. However, the GAO found a need for more detailed formal dispute resolution guidance, improved guidance on the role of the tenant advocate, and better oversight of the condition of private housing units.”

In Texas, the house where Lt. Col. Travis Allen previously lived is now unoccupied after mold overtook the property. He served in Iraq in 2007 and is now the chaplain at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. He moved his family three years ago.

“This was supposed to be my best assignment,” Allen told ABC News. “This was supposed to be the crowning jewel of my career. To move from the tactical level to the operational level. But immediately, all that excitement about being here was derailed.”

Instead, he says he later found out there were leaking sewage pipes under the home that the housing company, Hunt Military Communities, said it had already repaired.

Allen’s wife, Stacey, and daughter, Sydney, were by his side to address health issues, including visits to specialists who couldn’t understand why they couldn’t control the inflammation and pressure in his eyes.

“So we had the house tested, and that’s when we found out that there was black mold coming through the air ducts,” said Allen. “Green mold in the house, too.”

Environmental consultant Joe Reiss, who tests species of molds though is not involved in any of these cases, told ABC News that this fungus thrives in damp environments and “will look for an opportunistic colony.”

Allen says he has incurred out-of-pocket expenses totaling thousands of dollars. He has now moved his family off base with only the essential clothes and furniture they could salvage from the mold.

Hunt Military Communities said it remains committed to providing affordable, well-maintained housing. “We have rigorous processes in place to thoroughly investigate and address maintenance-related concerns,” it said in a statement to ABC News.

These stories have been repeated with numerous lawsuits nationwide, dating back more than a decade. As a result of the Senate hearings on conditions of MHPI, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 established the Tenant Bill of Rights, which some critics say has not been enforced.

“It’s more like guidelines,” said attorney Ryan Reed, about the MHPI’s implementation of the Tenant Bill of Rights. “If the landlord doesn’t follow it, there’s no meaningful consequence. Many of the rights are written so vaguely that multiple interpretations could be had of what exactly that means.”

Reed said his firm has represented around 150 military families over the last six years in litigation involving their private military housing. He said the problems can be traced back to the Military Housing Privatization Initiative itself.

“At that point, the military was powerless to police their partner,” Reed told ABC News. “They were the minority partner. They were not the expert. And by and large, they just allowed the housing companies to do whatever the housing company said was right.”

Reed said the lack of consensus on how to fix the problem is a larger issue. One of the components in the Tenant Bill of Rights is the formal dispute resolution process.

“What we discover at the end of the day is that process really has no teeth,” said Reed.

The Department of Defense told ABC News it intends to complete reforms and hold private companies accountable for fixing these problems.

“I know firsthand that our warfighters cannot deliver if they are sidelined by problems at home, especially those that can negatively affect health and quality of life,” Assistant Secretary of Defense Dale Marks said in a statement to ABC News. “Secretary Hegseth and I are committed to rebuilding military readiness and appreciate the support from Congressional committees to make much-needed housing reforms.”

“Together, we will complete implementation of these reforms and hold private companies accountable to fixing these problems,” said Marks, who was confirmed in June and will serve as Hegseth’s chief housing official.

Talarico, formerly based at Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, said she wants the failures to be addressed.

Balfour Beatty Communities, which oversees some privatized homes at NAS Key West, told ABC News that they are currently working to install new HVAC systems, among other improvements to vapor barriers and weather sealants to prevent deterioration.

“We understand that residents would like all the older homes at NAS Key West to be extensively renovated or rebuilt, but our joint venture with the Navy does not currently have the funding to undertake such a project,” said a spokesperson for Balfour Beatty Communities. “As funding becomes available, we are committed to working with the Navy to improve aging housing.”

Talarico, Allen and other military families hope additional reforms will provide safe, affordable and accessible housing.

“Housing, shelter, is a war fighter’s basic need,” Allen said. “And for some of us, that need is going unmet and we need help.”

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