The $893 billion fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act that passed the house last week comes with "zero dollars" for new housing projects in Guam, while including talks of nuclear reactors among other DoD priorities. 

It’s a much different perspective by the Pacific Center for Island Security compared to the congressman’s statements Monday, which PCIS notes did not make clear that the house NDAA is looking at “small modular reactors in Guam." 

The research institute says the seriousness of the discussion is underscored as the NDAA includes a provision from Congressman James Moylan that the secretary of defense must notify the Governor of Guam 180 days before placing a nuclear reactor in Guam. 

While it’s placement is not imminent as there are no US-made SMR’s that are operational, PCIS Chairman Robert Underwood says the community should expect to hear more from the military about the benefits of energy upgrades and the need for community support.

“The housing situation in Guam is clear. At this point what is required is to fund the housing related to its posture in Guam. But they have not done this and this year there are zero dollars in new funding for housing. The lack of funding for military housing, when looked at from what appear to be future plans for nuclear reactors in Guam, says it all about the way military planners regard our community,” Underwood said.

Meantime, the delegate claimed on Monday that the defense spending bill allocated “$1.17 billion for family housing to be executed in FY26, including $105 million for 250 new housing units." 

KUAM reached out to the Congressman’s office for clarification as we could not find the $1.17 billion family housing provision for Guam.

Meantime, PCIS clarified that the 250 units are from prior authorizations for ongoing building of housing at Anderson Air Force Base, which they say will be short of requirements. 

Plus, a “modest” Navy proposal to renovate 176 units appears to have not been included.

Meanwhile, Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority Deputy Director Fernando Esteves weighed in on the housing crisis, both behind and beyond the fence. 

“There are some housing provisions, but you got to understand, their data shows that it’s pretty obvious they are in a housing deficit as well,” said Esteves. 

Esteves highlighted the importance of the agency’s public comments for the missile defense, which underscored the adverse impacts on Guam's strained housing market. 

“Those comments weren’t just comments. It triggered a change in the final EIS to change the housing situation as ‘significant, adverse and long term impact’ to the island. This triggers certain federal requirements on their part of which they should be starting up the equalization to work with us on different alternatives and mitigation. So that definitely opened up the door. Otherwise, if it stayed ‘less than significant,’ then they wouldn’t have had to do anything,” added Esteves. 

The House NDAA also provides that the defence secretary can provide living quarter allowances for all dod civilian employees permanently assigned to Guam. 

That means they would receive overseas housing allowance, which significantly drives up Guam's housing market. 

“That’s still a big issue that we believe, based on our data and analysis, does need to be reviewed and addressed,” said Esteves. 

Still, Esteves emphasizes the island’s housing crisis not entirely due to the military buildup.

“Because at the end of the day, regardless of whether the buildup was happening or not, we still have to build more housing for our people. We still have to contend with housing whether the military is here or is not, with inflation which is happening regardless,” he said.

He says Guam's zoning laws and housing policies are “very outdated,” and there needs to be solutions at the local level to make housing more affordable, especially for what he calls the “missing middle.”

“That’s definitely of particular concern because based on the 2020 census, that demonstrates the largest demographic who move off island. So the middle classes, based on that census data, the middle class is dying,” he added.