Military Families in Key West Sue Balfour Beatty over Allegations of Squalid, Toxic Housing Conditions
Military.com | By Konstantin Toropin
Updated March 28, 2025 at 4:58pm ET | Published March 28, 2025 at 4:31pm ET
A group of nearly 200 current and former residents of Naval Air Station Key West has filed a lawsuit claiming that the contractor the Navy used to maintain family houses on base has committed fraud and negligence for at least a decade and exposed them to dangers ranging from toxic mold to asbestos.
The lawsuit, filed in Florida state court, alleges that Balfour Beatty, a massive company that manages more than 40,000 military homes across more than 50 bases, "concealed the horrific conditions from unsuspecting service men and women and their families" and then, "when these conditions were discovered and reported, Balfour systematically failed to properly repair and remediate significant problems."
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Balfour Beatty has a long history of perpetuating fraud and mismanagement against military families, having been repeatedly sued and forced to pay millions in restitution and fines just in the last several years alone.
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The lawsuit is also yet another blow for service members stationed in Key West. The Navy base has struggled with housing issues for years. In 2022, Military.com reported that the service booted all its junior sailors from barracks on base in order to conduct renovations, but since the installation is located in a small island community, those sailors struggled to find housing and some had to resort to camping.
A year later, sailors told Military.com that the problem hadn't improved and that the base was struggling to attract service members for key jobs like air traffic controllers.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/03/28/military-families-key-west-sue-balfour-beatty-over-allegations-of-squalid-toxic-housing-conditions.html
