The details

In the 1990s, on-base military housing across the country — around 300,000 homes — "was decaying and starved of funding," Reuters reports.

• In 1996, the military started privatizing its housing; "It was meant to rid bases of substandard accommodations and save taxpayers billions."
• Twenty years later in 2016, a DoD Inspector General report revealed "poor maintenance and oversight left service families vulnerable to 'pervasive' health and safety hazards."

Reuters, choosing families from a private Facebook group of those concerned about unsafe military housing, tested for hazards at 11 homes at seven bases around the country.

• Eight of the homes — in New York, Texas, Georgia, and Kentucky — "had blatant hazards in children's play areas." Paint at the homes "had 'very high' or 'extremely high' lead content."

By the numbers

The investigation found: 31 kids at Fort Benning in Georgia tested high for lead over a six-year span.

• At least 77 children tested high levels at Kansas' Fort Riley, Texas' Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, and Louisiana's Fort Polk.
• More than 1,050 kids had high lead levels according to blood tests at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas between 2011 and 2016. The medical center receives blood tests from U.S. bases around the country.
• 75% of 90,000 homes across the country did not meet standards of safety, the Army acknowledged in a 2005 environmental study.

The Army said to Reuters in a statement: "We are committed to providing an safe and secure environment on all of our installations, and to providing the highest quality of care to our service members, their families, and all those entrusted to our care."