U.S. Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the ranking member of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, announced plans for a hearing next month on the current condition of the Military Housing Privatization Initiative.

The hearing will be held jointly by the Subcommittee on Personnel and the Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support on Wednesday, Feb. 13, in Washington, D.C.

The hearing comes in the wake of a series of recent reports of substandard housing at military installations across the country.

Reed, who serves as an ex officio member of both subcommittees and urged the full committee to hold a hearing, plans to attend.

“This is an important hearing. Ensuring our troops have a safe, healthy, decent place to live is paramount. I want to hear from the Pentagon and private contractors about what they’re doing to ensure the health and well being of our troops and their families when it comes to housing,” Reed said. “I also want to hear from Rhode Islanders and military families about their personal experiences and encourage people who live on post or in military housing to share their stories with me on Facebook or on my website, reed.senate.gov. Hopefully, this hearing sheds a light on the scope of the issue and can help us develop solutions, make improvements, and enhance the quality of life for our troops and their families.”

Witnesses will include senior leaders from the U.S. Department of Defense, who are responsible for selecting contractors, writing the contracts and enforcing DOD standards, as well as a panel of presidents and CEOs of private contractors that operate military housing on military installations.

One of the CEOs testifying will be John G. Picerne, founder and CEO of Corvias Group LLC, which operates more than 26,000 family homes across 13 U.S. Army and Air Force bases under the Military Housing Privatization Initiative. Corvias is a privately owned company headquartered in East Greenwich.