Rep. Mike Levin is the latest Democrat demanding answers over why former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is still occupying a taxpayer-funded waterfront Coast Guard residence on a Washington, D.C. military base — two months after President Trump fired her and reassigned her to a minor diplomatic role that carries none of the housing privileges she continues to enjoy.
“Can someone please explain to me why Kristi Noem is still living on the taxpayers’ dime in a Coast Guard house on a D.C. military base?” Levin posted on social media Friday. “She was fired TWO MONTHS ago. She better start packing her bags.”
The Property — and How Noem Got It
The residence at the center of the controversy is Quarters 1 on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C. — a historic waterfront property along the Anacostia River that has traditionally been designated for the commandant of the United States Coast Guard. Noem moved into the property in August 2025, after President Trump fired then-Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan on January 21, 2025 — just one day after his inauguration — and evicted her from the residence with only three hours’ notice, despite the Coast Guard having already granted Fagan a 60-day waiver to find new housing, according to a formal letter sent to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin by Rep. Robert Garcia, published by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Noem told Fox News’ Hannity at the time that she moved onto the secure military installation after media organizations published the location of her private residence in Washington’s Navy Yard neighborhood, citing a surge in death threats and what a DHS spokesperson described as “vicious doxing on the dark web.” That security justification carried weight when Noem ran one of the largest federal agencies in the government. It carries considerably less weight now. Trump fired Noem on March 5, 2026 — two days after a bruising congressional hearing in which she faced bipartisan questions about a $70 million luxury jet and a $220 million taxpayer-funded advertising campaign — and reassigned her to a far lesser role: Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a little-known position in which she reports not to Secretary of State Marco Rubio but to his deputy, according to the Spokesman-Review.
What the Wall Street Journal Found
The controversy reignited in late April when the Wall Street Journal reported that Noem had continued using the waterfront residence nearly two months after her firing — with a black Suburban SUV typically assigned to her spotted parked in front of the house, and U.S. Coast Guard officials confirming they had seen Noem on the base in recent days. The Journal also reported that the current Coast Guard commandant, Admiral Kevin Lunday, has told associates he plans to move into Quarters 1 imminently — and has been living in a neighboring property typically designated for the vice commandant while waiting for Noem to leave.
The arrangement drew an immediate and pointed contrast. The same administration that gave Admiral Fagan three hours to vacate a property she had been promised 60 days to leave has apparently provided her successor’s successor with two months — and counting — of continued occupancy after losing her cabinet position entirely.
Garcia’s Formal Demand — and What He’s Asking For
On May 1, Rep. Robert Garcia — the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform — sent a formal letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin demanding full documentation of Noem’s housing arrangement. “Kristi Noem got fired in March and she is still living rent-free in a government home that belongs to the Coast Guard,” Garcia wrote in a statement accompanying the letter. “The Trump Administration can’t explain why, nor do they seem to care. This same Administration threw out the Coast Guard Commandant with three hours of notice to make room for Noem, and even though she’s been fired from her government role, she won’t leave government housing. Secretary Mullin owes us answers and Noem must pack her bags and go,” according to the House Oversight Committee’s official release.
In the letter itself, Garcia demanded that Mullin produce all documentation related to Noem’s residency, including “any lease agreement, contractual arrangement, or special dispensation permitting former Secretary Noem to continue to reside in Coast Guard housing on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling or any other DHS property,” according to The Hill. Garcia stated that Noem’s continued occupancy raises “concerns of waste, fraud and abuse of government resources” under Mullin’s supervision — and called into question his “stewardship of DHS’s taxpayer-funded resources.”
What Noem Has Said — and What She Has Not
Noem addressed her living situation during congressional testimony in early March — just one day before Trump fired her. “Let me clarify a couple things,” she told the House Judiciary Committee. “I’m not in the Commandant’s house. I’m in a Coast Guard House, but not the Commandant’s house. And I will also tell you that I rent that facility. I rent where I stay, and pay personal dollars to do that.” Garcia’s letter disputes that framing, stating that Noem “moved into Quarters 1, reportedly without a requirement to pay rent or reimburse the federal government for her use of the residence,” according to the House Oversight Committee. Noem has not publicly addressed her continued occupancy since her firing.
The Broader Noem Tenure — What Got Her Fired
The housing controversy is one thread in a tapestry of controversies that ultimately ended Noem’s tenure. The March 3-4 Senate Judiciary Committee hearings that preceded her firing by two days were dominated by three issues: the $70 million luxury Boeing 737 MAX jet that Noem and her senior adviser Corey Lewandowski used for travel — complete with a private bedroom and bar — that lawmakers from both parties questioned, given that Noem had told Congress the aircraft was purchased for ICE deportation flights and that she had only flown on it once, when the Journal reported it was used repeatedly by Noem and Lewandowski, according to LiveNOW Fox; a $220 million taxpayer-funded advertising campaign that featured Noem on horseback before Mount Rushmore, which she claimed Trump had signed off on — a claim Trump publicly denied; and pointed questions about her alleged personal relationship with Lewandowski.
Trump fired Noem on March 5. The administration has since kept the $70 million jet, with the Journal reporting that Melania Trump’s office and select cabinet secretaries will have access to it going forward. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican, had publicly called for Noem’s dismissal before Trump acted — a rare intra-party rebuke of a sitting cabinet secretary.
“She Better Start Packing Her Bags”
Levin’s Friday post joins a growing chorus of Democratic lawmakers publicly demanding action. The core argument Levin, Garcia, and their colleagues are making is a straightforward one: the administration that evicted a female four-star admiral with three hours’ notice to make room for a political ally is now allowing that same political ally — stripped of her cabinet role, reassigned to a minor diplomatic posting, and by any standard no longer in need of the security justification that originally placed her in military housing — to remain in that housing indefinitely, with no explanation and no apparent timeline for departure.
Admiral Lunday, the current Coast Guard commandant, wants his house back. The House Oversight Committee wants documentation. Rep. Levin wants answers. So far, the Trump administration and DHS have provided none of the above.