The U.S. military is building its presence in Guam, driving costs up for locals : NPR

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

The U.S. territory of Guam is home to two major military bases. Now thousands of marines are arriving to a new base there. The goal is to strengthen the U.S. presence in the Pacific with an eye to China. But as Naina Rao reports, locals there are feeling some side effects.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLASTIC CLINKING)

NAINA RAO: Plastic cutlery clinks against Styrofoam plates as a group of Guam veterans gather around a cooler. They share red rice, fina’denne’ and barbecued chicken, staples of Chamorro cooking. Chamorros are the Indigenous people of Guam, and most of the veterans here tonight are Chamorro. They’ve come for Battle Buddy Talk, a weekly meetup for mental health support. But tonight, the conversation is about something specific.

ROY GAMBOA: What veterans think of the buildup – to some people, it’s been a godsend because it created some jobs. To others, it maybe created some problems.

RAO: That’s Roy Gamboa, a veteran facilitating the conversation. The buildup he’s talking about is military. It was announced in 2006 when the U.S. and Japan agreed to move an estimated 5,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam. Approximately 100 of them have already been moved. The rest are expected in the next several years.

But it’s not just marines. Many others have moved to the island already to support the buildup, like missile defense teams, civilian contractors and construction crews. That influx is tightening an already stretched rental market, according to real estate experts. And Gamboa says it’s making housing harder for longtime island residents to afford.

GAMBOA: How many people have friends or family members that are veterans that relocated because it was just too expensive on Guam?

RAO: All 30 people raise their hands. Robert Underwood is chair of the Pacific Center for Island Security, a research institute that provides analysis of military strategy anchored in the perspective of islanders. He says, since the buildup was first announced, it’s taken on a new purpose, countering China’s growing influence.

ROBERT UNDERWOOD: The United States military has assumed that there’s going to be conflict with China down the road, and this is where the military planners have said they’re going to draw the line on China. Guam is the only place that can’t say no.

RAO: Because Guam is a U.S. territory, not a state – it doesn’t have voting representation in Congress. That makes it very different from places like Hawaii, where senators and representatives could vote against federal spending on military projects they don’t like or attach conditions to their approval. People here can’t vote for the president.

MICHAEL BEVACQUA: I oppose the U.S. military buildup to Guam because we don’t get to say yes or no.

RAO: Michael Bevacqua is a Chamorro activist and cultural historian with independent Guahan, a group that advocates for Guam’s independence.

BEVACQUA: We lack that fundamental sovereignty.

RAO: In response, Rear Admiral Brett Mietas, who’s commander of the Department of Defense installation in the Mariana Islands, including Guam, says local leadership is always kept in the loop on everything that’s happening with the buildup.

BRETT MIETAS: We don’t ever go more than about 90 days without sitting down with the governor and her team and talking about where we are. I think for them, the most important thing is just to know what’s coming and then to be able to partner on how we’re going to tackle those challenges.

RAO: Housing is getting more expensive on Guam for a lot of the same reasons it’s getting more expensive in the continental U.S. – strong demand, limited supply, inflation. The military buildup is part of that strong demand, but Guam housing experts say the situation here is worsened by land limitations on an island and the high cost of importing construction materials.

Military personnel receive an overseas housing allowance, which starts at $2,200 a month, so they can afford to pay the rising cost of housing here. But lots of locals can’t, like Tori Manley. She’s 29, Chamorro, born and raised in Central Guam. She’s a contract worker at the National Park Service. That pays her $19 an hour. Until a few years ago, she lived in a multigenerational household with 10 people sharing two bedrooms.

TORI MANLEY: I had a full-time job.I went to school, and then it was too cramped for me to really stay in the house.

RAO: Sometimes she chose to sleep in her car just to find some space. She now lives in a two-bedroom fixer-upper with her boyfriend and two roommates. They pay $400 a month.

MANLEY: There’s two bathrooms, but only one works. And then, of course, there are some electrical issues, but if the rent is that low, then it’s OK.

RAO: Admiral Mietas, with the Department of Defense, says the military is aware that bringing more people in raises housing costs. He says, they’re still figuring out their strategy to accommodate all of the new personnel expected to move here.

MIETAS: We could just build new military construction, but it costs a lot of money, or we could partner with local businesses and the local community to be able to find creative options.

RAO: He didn’t provide specific examples, but said there may be developments on Guam that aren’t full all the time or where developers hadn’t been able to finish their work, and the government could help fund it to completion. They’re currently taking bids for these projects. For some people on Guam, the military’s expansion has been positive, like local business owner Jim Pinson, who owns GMI Scuba Wholesale, a diving equipment store.

JIM PINSON: Our real tourism market right now is the military and the contractors. They’re the ones that are keeping the hotels full. They’re the ones that are keeping most of the dive shops going.

RAO: The Guam Department of Labor estimates that tourism accounted for about 6% of Guam’s GDP in 2024. Federal spending was over 40% of the GDP in 2022, including defense and nondefense, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

PINSON: All I want to do is make enough money to pay the bills, have a little extra money and keep going.

RAO: But a lot of people are conflicted. They see the good and the bad at the same time, like Roy Gamboa, back at Battle Buddy Talk, who says that another good thing about the buildup is the security it provides Guam.

GAMBOA: Unfortunately, you know, it hurts. The prices go up. Yes, it does, but there’s that – what he talks about, that price of freedom.

RAO: He says the island is a target, being so close to China, and he’s glad that the U.S. is building up the means to defend it. For NPR News, I’m Naina Rao in Guam.

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