FACT SHEET: Taxpayer Trade Offs: D.C. Occupation vs. Public Housing 

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As of this writing (August 21, 2025), there are more than 2,000 National Guard troops deployed in D.C., costing over a million dollars per day. In all but two states, the daily cost of the D.C. troop deployment is greater than the daily cost of operating public housing for all unhoused people in the state. In most cases, the disparity is many times greater. For example, the daily expense of deploying troops to D.C. is 4.3 times greater than the daily cost of operating public housing for D.C’s entire unhoused population. 

1. Data sourced from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, December 2024. Available at: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf ↩︎
2. Data sourced from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Assisted Housing: National and Local database. The daily cost is based on 2024 state-level summaries of public housing expenditures (“Average HUD Expenditure per month ($$)”). Available at: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/assthsg.html#2009-2019_data  ↩︎
3. We multiplied the HUD cost of operating each public housing unit by the total number of unhoused people in the state. This may slightly overinflate the cost of housing all currently unhoused people, as the total number of unhoused may include families who would live together in one unit. ↩︎
4. These comparisons assume the cost of the D.C. deployment is at least $1,108,230 per day. They are a conservative reflection of the disproportionate spending, considering the cost of operating public housing for all unhoused people may actually be lower than the estimates stated here (see footnote 3). ↩︎