Aug. 21, 2025 - Download PDF Version

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. 

There are more than 30,000 unhoused people in the six states whose GOP governors are voluntarily sending National Guardsmen to the capital (Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia). The daily cost of public housing for all 30,000 would be less than one day of the D.C. occupation.

“Republican governors are now voluntarily using federal tax dollars to militarize D.C. instead of addressing the needs of their constituents, who are some of the poorest in the country,” Hanna Homestead, a research analyst at the National Priorities Project told The Intercept. 

See this link or download the PDF version for the full list of states and citations.