Armed Forces: Housing
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the current level of availability is for service family accommodation; how this level has changed over the last five years; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Afghan resettlement programme on those levels of availability.
Answered by Luke Pollard
The Department did not record data to accurately determine stock availability until April 2023. As this information cannot be gathered retrospectively, data prior to this date is unavailable.
The table below shows a year-on-year comparison of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) availability from April 2023 to April 2025, including current availability as at November 2025.
| Apr 23 | Apr 24 | Apr 25 | Nov 25 |
Total SFA | 47,793 | 47,770 | 47,638 | 47,697 |
Number of available vacant properties | 1,978 (4.14%) | 1,372 (2.88%) | 2,213 (4.65%) | 2,745 (5.76%) |
The allocation of SFA for the Afghan Resettlement Programme has been carefully planned to minimise the impact on Service families.
This involves utilising surplus SFA, properties earmarked for disposal, and void properties requiring refurbishment. Refurbishing otherwise unfunded void properties not only supports SFA demand but also delivers a lasting benefit to the Ministry of Defence.
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