Navy Acts to Ensure That Base Housing Is Shipshape : Government: Surprise inspections will be routine. Some residents complain that would be an invasion of privacy, but others applaud the effort to maintain minimum standards of cleanliness as long overdue.

The Long Beach Naval Station commander, citing “deplorable conditions” in some base homes, has ordered surprise inspections, creating an outcry among some residents who call the move an invasion of privacy.

Beginning Monday, inspectors will make unannounced visits to ensure that residents are keeping the houses clean and are not allowing unauthorized visitors to live with them, said base spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Steve Chesser.

Since Capt. Isaiah John Jones announced the policy in a recent letter, it has been hotly debated among residents of Long Beach station housing installations in Long Beach, San Pedro, Seal Beach and Los Alamitos, residents said.

“People think this is awful,” said one San Pedro housing base resident who referred to the inspectors as the Clean Police. “(Residents) don’t like their privacy being violated. They don’t want people coming in and telling them how to keep their places clean. . . . It’s like Big Brother. Why don’t they just install security cameras inside each home so they don’t have to come out at all?”

Said another woman as her children ran around her: “I have seven kids. There is no way I can keep my house clean all the time. What are they going to do if my laundry is piled up?”

Besides, her friend added, looking down a row of drab cottages in the Long Beach housing base, “these are old houses; they look dirty all the time.”

But several Long Beach housing residents said the move is long overdue.

“I’ve seen too many people misuse what they get here,” a resident said. “There are people living in the houses that are not supposed to be living in the houses. I’ve seen people who are absolutely lazy and will not take care of their house. I think they need to check on everybody.”

Another woman brushed aside concerns that inspections are an invasion of privacy.

“It doesn’t faze me,” she said. “I keep my house clean.”

But others questioned the legality of such a move. Under California law, a landlord may inspect a tenant’s apartment only after giving reasonable notice. Chesser said, however, that the base, as a federal installation, in not subject to such restrictions.

Jones could not be reached to discuss the new policy, but in a letter dated Nov. 25, he wrote that the housing office, Navy police and city agencies that have responded to complaints about base housing have found “living conditions deplorable, unauthorized residents (living in the houses), and major damage to government property.”

The problems, he wrote, “are clearly an abuse of the privilege of living in Navy Family Housing” and negatively affect the other families in the neighborhoods. The team of investigators will improve the “family atmosphere” of base housing, Jones wrote.

Until now, housing inspections were carried out when someone moved in or out. Otherwise, conditions inside the house were checked only if a neighbor complained or maintenance workers reported a problem. Such “probable cause” housekeeping inspections also are conducted at the country’s two largest naval bases in San Diego and Norfolk, Va., according to spokesmen there.

But, Chesser said, Capt. Jones decided to take Long Beach Naval Station one step further after tagging along on a recent inspection.

“He was appalled by what he saw and came upon this to control it,” Chesser said. “Again, we just want to make sure there is a minimum standard of cleanliness. I think everyone can agree on what basic sanitary standards are. It’s not going to be a white-glove inspection, but if there were dirty diapers lying around, pet feces on the kitchen floor, rotten food out, then that is a concern not only for that household but for the neighborhood.”

Chesser said that while some may see the new policy as an invasion of privacy, “living in Navy housing is not a right, it is a privilege. The way command views it, unacceptable conditions of cleanliness are an abuse of that privilege.”

Active-duty sailors have a option of living on base or receiving an allowance to live off base. There is a waiting list to get in, Petty Officer Mike Perron said.

Chesser said another reason for the random checks is that past inspections have found people living in base housing who were not supposed to be there.

Residents have no choice but to comply if inspectors show up at their house, Chesser said. If unsatisfactory conditions are found, the residents will be given a set amount of time to correct the problem. If the “condition is sufficiently bad” the resident’s commanding officer will be notified, he said.

Chesser said he hopes that most residents will not see the inspection as punishment, but as “a positive response to a problem that exists.”

Chesser said the plan was supported by all 28 ship commanders, 10 shore commanders and family representatives from all commands.

“They saw it as a response to complaints about people not taking care of their units,” he said. “If everyone kept up their houses, there wouldn’t be any need for this.”