Top members of Donald Trump’s White House are reportedly living in homes typically reserved for top military brass in Washington, D.C. as they pull back from neighborhoods where their presences were often targeted for protests by the many Democrats who make the Capital region their homes.
Stephen Miller and Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently joined a growing list of Trump Cabinet secretaries and advisers who’ve chosen to live in reserved military housing, with Rubio moving onto “Generals Row” in Fort McNair and Miller also living in the area after abandoning his digs in Arlington, The Atlantic reported.
They join Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who moved into military housing earlier this year, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is alone among his compatriots in finding some precedent for his decision to move onto Generals Row alongside Rubio.
White House and administration officials gave security concerns as the reasons for the arrangements; one other senior White House official, whose identity was not named by The Atlantic, is also in a similar arrangement due to “security concerns related to a specific foreign threat,” said officials.
While legal, the arrangements put a strain on the short supply of such housing in the District of Columbia and could ruffle some feathers among the nation’s top commanders at a time when relations between political appointees and the brass is already strained. Hegseth is largely to thank for that division after he summoned commanders to Virginia for a speech about “warrior ethos” and aesthetics that was reportedly not well-received.
The practice of putting White House officials in such housing is very new. During the Obama era, Robert Gates made headlines when he became the first Cabinet-level official to choose such an arrangement, and at the time Gates (then Secretary of Defense) was required to pay expensive rent to maintain the location: more than $6,500 per month in 2008 rent levels. That would be nearly $10,000 a month today, factoring in inflation. That year, Congress passed a law to help Gates out, and in doing so paved the road for other Cabinet secretaries to join him.
It’s unlikely that any of the officials named in the piece are on the hook for rents quite that high. Noem, according to The Washington Post, wasn’t paying rent at all when her situation was first reported in August; at the time, a DHS spokeswoman claimed that the secretary had been “doxxed,” requiring such security measures — though it isn’t clear what information about Noem would not have been public already, and law enforcement has not identified any credible violent threats against her. In April, she had her handbag stolen while at a D.C. restaurant.
The Post reported that Noem, at the time, was “living for free in a military home” at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, where she “pays no rent to live in the commandant’s house”.
A DHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for clarification from The Independent on Thursday regarding whether she is now paying rent.
Others besides Noem have faced cold welcomes from their new D.C. neighbors, including Miller and his wife, Katie, who were targeted by activists in Arlington for protests upon moving into the relatively liberal area. Earlier in October, it was reported that the Millers were selling their home in Virginia amid the barrage of condemnations from their neighbors.
According to The Atlantic, most of the civilian Cabinet officials are paying fair-market rates to rent housing in the Washington Arsenal and other neighborhoods, calculated by the military. For Hegseth, who is married with children, this amounts to $4,655.70 a month rent for his residence, which underwent renovations totaling $137,000 before he moved in.
For context, that rate is on the cheaper end of a full (three-plus bedroom) townhouse rental in D.C.’s neighboring Capitol Hill or Eastern Market neighborhoods.
Hegseth was dinged by Democrats when he moved onto Barracks Row earlier this year, though as Defense Secretary he joined several of his predecessors in making that choice. Democrats blamed him for accepting such an arrangement at a time when DOGE officials were going on extreme cost-cutting crusades across the federal government and the issue of inadequate (largely privatized) housing for service members remains an issue.
“Why is $49,900 for emergency painting of this residence necessary and how does that use of funds comply with the Administration’s stated goal of government efficiency?” Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Debbie Wasserman Schultz wrote to Hegseth in February.
“We know that many servicemembers and their families currently live in unacceptable housing conditions including houses with mold, lead paint, and other hazards. What commitment will you make to provide servicemembers with a similarly high quality of housing for themselves and their families?”
