The Trump administration said Thursday it had signed a $292 million contract to provide up to 2,000 housing units for National Guard troops deployed in Washington, D.C., the latest sign that President Trump intends to keep armed American troops in the capital for the rest of his term.
The contract with Placemakr, a company that manages housing properties in the city and neighboring Virginia, would allow some of the 4,755 troops deployed in the capital to transition to housing in apartment-style units from short-term housing at scattered hotels. Most of the deployed Guard members are far from home — only 607 of them come from the D.C. Guard itself.
The Defense Department said earlier this month that the armed troops would be deployed in the capital until Inauguration Day in January 2029 — the end of Mr. Trump’s term.
Last year, Mr. Trump ordered the deployment of more than 2,000 National Guard troops as part of a show of military force in the capital, claiming that he would “rescue” Washington from crime and urban blight, even though violent crime had fallen to a 30-year low. Deployed Guard members have been employed to beautify the city by replanting grass, removing graffiti and picking up bags of trash, but do not have the power to enforce the law or make arrests.
The deployed force has doubled in size since last year, peaking at 5,148 troops in the days just after celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary.
A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that deploying 1,000 National Guard personnel to a U.S. city in 2026 would cost $18 million to $21 million a month. Based on that estimate, the force in Washington would cost at least $85.6 million a month — about $1 billion a year or $3 billion for the rest of Mr. Trump’s term in office.
Housing is one of the largest expenses for Guard deployments, and the Third Amendment of the Constitution restricts where U.S. troops, including the National Guard, can be housed.
Because Washington lacks statehood and is federal land, Mr. Trump has the power to freely deploy troops in the capital — as he did in 2020 when about 4,500 Guard troops were deployed in the city in what was widely considered a debacle for the Guard during the protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
John Ismay contributed reporting.
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