As the Navy begins major upgrades to barracks for its most junior sailors, thousands will soon need temporary housing during those projects — which is where the private sector comes in. Navy officials are asking private companies to come up with ideas for “swing” spaces so sailors are “not displaced into subpar accommodations during the transition.” “This initiative will support a major nationwide effort to renovate and modernize barracks at naval bases across the country,” Navy Installation Command officials said in a release Monday. In 2025, Navy Installation Command officials announced a $375 million spending plan to upgrade the large barracks buildings where most single junior enlisted sailors live, which it calls “unaccompanied housing.” These shortfalls will affect sailors in buildings at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii as well as several Navy installations near San Diego, California, and elsewhere in the state.