NAVSTA Newport Homes - Middletown, Rhode Island

Lauren F.

My family and I lived here late 2022 to early 2023 while my husband attended school. It was the worst living situation I have ever been in and reminiscing on it has inspired me to write this review. To start, we had dark brown water, it stained all of our laundry, we couldn’t drink or cook with it, but we unfortunately had to bathe in it. Having to wash my kids in brown water was horrible. The tile floor in the bathroom was coming apart and the subfloor was lifting up. There was mold in the bathrooms. No AC, and it’s extremely hot in the summer. So hot that the humidity in the house would cause the fire alarms to go off. The heating system could not handle extremely cold weather, when it was cold out the warmest our house could maintain was 55 degrees. We lived on Reliance Row and it’s right across the street from low income housing and by a water treatment facility. The air smelled of sewage all summer. I can’t think of any good things about the house or the way maintenance handled repairs. Called many times about our water, one person looked at the water and said “that’s disgusting.” They said they put a filter on the water supply to the house, which didn’t help. I’m sure the house had old, rusted galvanized pipes that should have been replaced long ago. And the house was full of wolf spiders.

Kaitlin C.

The positive reviews have to be fake because this is one of the WORST living experiences I’ve ever had. We moved into the Melville community in October and I have had to call maintenance over 10 times for various reasons. The 3 biggest ones were no heat, no hot water in master bath, and our garage flooding everytime it rains. Only ONE of these problems has been fixed (but it of course wasn’t fixed the first time someone came out, spent 2 days without heat in the thick of winter). We’ve been waiting on a part for the garage to get fixed for WEEKS with 0 updates. Anything we have in the garage that sits on the floor has been completely ruined. The houses are beyond old and outdated with terrible insulation and I’m sure has mold problems, especially in the bathrooms. The walls are paper thin so you will in fact hear your neighbors and have the joy of sharing a small hot water heater with them. This agency takes all of your BAH even if you get an increase they will automatically take it…. It’s a full on scam what they do to us and whoever runs this place should be ashamed of what they are doing to military families. If I could give 0 stars I would.

AB

If you’re attending the War College, I do not recommend living here, the price doesn’t justify what you receive. We moved in last year and there was no transparency regarding the price being increased to full BAH. By the time we were informed, it was too late to find housing in the local area. With the price increase amounting to the company receiving over $10k from the housing rate we were informed of when we applied, we saw zero improvements within the house or community. So where did this money go? You have to provide your own air conditioning, there are no ceiling fans, no automatic garages, and the carpeting on the second floor was abysmal and the “master bathroom” shower is a stall you find in an RV. The homes are extremely outdated and worn which shows in every room. If you Google the company or search on Reddit, you’ll find all the information about the company and community you need to make a decision.

The only good parts about living here were when Norman came for our maintenance calls and the move out process with Johanny.

Aleia G. D.

Norman was my life-saver today as he was prompt professional and totally helpful after I was unexpectedly locked out of my house! He kept me updated for his ETA and was super communicative throughout my experience. I really appreciated his help this afternoon. It’s one thing to be locked out of your house but to have someone as quick and efficient as Norman made all the difference!

Brandon E.

Where to begin. Just getting into a home here is a challenge in itself and then you’re coerced into saying yes to the home offered for you because of the threat of not getting another offer in time to move into a home after your PCS. I’d say this is mostly due to the 30 day vacate notice that should be changed to 60-90 days so housing can plan ahead. Majority of everyone has orders 4-5 months prior to moving at minimum. This would help housing plan ahead since the Naval War College doesn’t graduate its students until mid-June (which could easily be jumped back to Memorial Day weekend I’m sure so that families can get to their next duty station and not be rushed).

Secondly, the houses are extremely outdated and the worst quality homes I’ll probably ever experience during my service. I’m at 16 years now and feel like my family is living in barracks with me due to the quality of the homes. Window units and fans that you must purchase on your own (no a/c and no ceiling fans — can we be any cheaper?), appliances were all broken when we moved in and had to be replaced one at a time (could’ve been done before we moved in), the community looks extremely unappealing because the lawn care company does the bare minimum, bathrooms are tiny with zero storage space (I’ve seen better bathrooms in average size 5th wheel trailers), and if you’re a student you’re forced to live in the crappiest homes available because of some unwritten policy. My wife is 7 months pregnant and works from home, so working in the office with no a/c in the summer has been a challenge. However, there’s “staff” homes available that offer central AC and much more room for a family that might have special needs. I didn’t grow up with much and lived in better quality trailers during my childhood.

Overall, Newport is a great little town and duty station (minus the summer vacationers) but the outdated and depressing homes ruin the experience, and we can’t wait to leave! Oh, good luck getting a place out in town due to the price hikes or non-availability until post vacation season.

Saved round: I’m mind blown that there’s this many 5 star ratings! Were these people paid to make these reviews? Definitely makes me wonder.

G

Luckily we didn't need to live here but many of my colleagues have had to get BBC Housing and have nothing but bad things to say. The rental costs are very high for these very old and run-down houses - we rent in downtown Newport for not much more for a much much nicer house. If I didn't know any better I'd say that this company is exploiting military members and their families who don't have any other options.

B N. C.

*Pretty sorry application process* They definitely don't seem to care much about the welfare of military families. Kristi Egan sat on our declination for 3 days before responding. Which is pretty messed up, given the never ending waitlist. Be prepared to live in a hotel, for a month, before your home is ready. It doesnt matter how early you apply, your home wont be ready until a month after you pcs to the area. Kristi had an astoundingly nasty attitude too, during the whole application/ move in process- borderline petulant.

*update: after living here for a couple months, I can definitely say these homes are falling apart. The closet doors are terrifying, if you have littles. They are very heavy sliding doors that come off the tracks. It's just a tragic accident waiting to happen. It's ridiculous how much money we had to spend out of pocket to keep this poorly ventilated house cool, during the summer. 3 AC units running full time at the lowest Temps, and our house would still be 75 degrees.

We've lived in some less than favorable military housing locations. BBC Navsta Newport... is like the stereotype of bad mil housing.

Also, please stop telling people to call the office, with their concerns. Nobody answers the phone or responds to voicemails.

Rich B.

We were honestly not excited to live in base housing, but this development exceeds our expectations. The housing staff are great and they respond to maintenance requests within one day, and provide prompt and outstanding service. The homes are older but decent sized.

If you are hedging, don’t hesitate to choose NAVSTA Newport Homes!