National Guard will spend $290 million on apartments for Washington troops

Thousands of National Guardsmen mobilized to Washington, D.C., will soon be living in apartment units under a $290 million rental contract the guard calls a “long-term housing solution,” officials announced. 

National Guard Bureau officials announced Friday it had signed a $292 million contract with corporate lodging company Placemakr to provide 2,000 apartment-style units for Guardsmen mobilized in Washington, D.C., according to a Friday press release.

Officials did not specify how long the guard would be renting the apartments but websites that track federal contracts showed an end date of June 2027. 

In August 2025, President Donald Trump announced the mobilization of 800 local National Guardsmen to Washington D.C. to bolster local law enforcement. That number has slowly crept up over the last year as Republican governors have added troops from their states to the mission. As of Monday, 4,755 National Guardsmen from 15 states were assigned to the guard’s Joint Task Force-District of Columbia.

The majority of those troops without local housing had been staying at hotels throughout the region, officials said. It’s been unclear just how long the D.C. guard mobilization will last but contracts with local vendors to supply services, like daily meals, have been indicators for how officials plan for the evolving mission, which is about to hit one year in August. With the latest housing contract for thousands of apartments, officials described it as a “long-term housing solution.”

Placemakr advertises its rental services as “apartment meet hotel” with fully furnished units available for short or long term stays. The company offers rentals in major cities like New York City, Austin, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia. There are four Placemakr housing complexes in Washington and one in Arlington, Virginia. Rents for a studio or 1 bedroom apartments at the property in D.C.’s Navy Yard neighborhood can run from $1,800 to $2,800 per month. 

The contract was signed with the U.S. General Services Administration, which does procurement for the entire federal government and offers pre-negotiated contracts for goods and services to federal agencies.

According to contract documents, GSA has a deal with Placemakr for a variety of apartments with amenities similar to other apartment complexes in the area. Placemakr offers small single-room studios as small as 277 square feet to five-bedroom, 1,000 square foot units. The apartments include weekly housekeeping, Wi-Fi, smart TVs, in-room or on-site washers and dryers, gyms, full kitchens or partial kitchenettes.

National Guard officials also said that the apartments would give troops “more stable living conditions, improved privacy and quality of life and access to secure parking and consolidated support services.” 

“The contract is the largest interagency lodging acquisition in National Guard history, providing a long-term housing solution to improve troop readiness, quality of life and operational security while reducing costs to taxpayers, all key issues given the scale and scope of the D.C. mission,” officials said.

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