Report: Majority of Federal Office Space in DC is Unused
Did you know that nearly 90% of federal office space in Washington, DC has been vacant since the start of the coronavirus pandemic?
According to a new report from the Public Buildings Reform Board (PBRB), occupancy rates for federal office buildings in DC are roughly one-third of what they were prior to the pandemic. For example, a Department of Agriculture building with space for over 7,000 employees is being utilized by just 456 people and a General Services Administration facility that can accommodate 2,532 employees is being used by just 359.
Occupancy rates for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Labor, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Environmental Protection Agency in DC are even lower, with each agency using less than 10% of available space.
“You are more likely to see a ghost than a bureaucrat at some locations,” jokes Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA). “It’s time to get the ghost employees back to their old haunts and Washington back to work.”
Despite President Joe Biden’s pleas to federal agencies to get at least 50% of their employees back into the office, the reality for many businesses is that operations can be conducted effectively and efficiently (and with reduced costs) even if employees continue to work from home. From the employee perspective, remote work offers less drive time and more time spent with loved ones.
The General Services Administration (GSA), which acts as the primary landlord for the federal government, is actively working with several government agencies to find solutions that benefit communities and taxpayers. The GSA has already announced plans to discard 3.5 million square feet of office space in the District, saving an estimated $1 billion in maintenance over the next decade.
“GSA does not have adequate funding for the maintenance of many federally-owned buildings in the District,” explains PBRB member and real estate lawyer David Winstead. “The reality is that where there’s a building with deferred maintenance that isn’t being utilized, it could be sold and the revenues allocated back to GSA for other real estate needs, instead of taxpayers paying for it.”
These concerns are being discussed in Congress, with lawmakers on both sides calling on federal agencies to tell them exactly how much space they need and figure out a way to sell the space they don’t.
Among the many ripple effects of the shift from office work to remote work has been a sharp decrease in revenue caused by the physical absence of federal employees, who spent a considerable amount of time shopping, dining, and receiving services in the District.
“In the past, the presence of federal workers boosted the District’s economy and made the city recession-proof,” laments Yesim Sayin of the DC Policy Center. “These numbers show that the presence of the federal government is now weighing down the District’s economy as empty buildings displace economic activity that would otherwise be happening downtown.”
To offset the drop in revenue, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser is pushing to increase the sales tax and decrease contributions to social programs including affordable housing grants.
Speaking with a reporter from The Washington Times, a GSA representative mentioned that President Biden’s proposed fiscal budget for 2025 includes $425 million for the GSA to “reconfigure and renovate federal buildings to better utilize space and to expedite the disposition of unneeded federal facilities.”
Though federal employees have always tended to use their office space less frequently than private-sector workers, the proliferation of unused office space is a nationwide concern. Understandably, many have urged local officials and politicians to view this unused space as a solution to the affordable housing crises plaguing many areas of the US.
The PBRB is an independent agency that has been seeking to eliminate/consolidate unused federal space since 2019. Its report on occupancy rates, produced by comparing cell phone activity from 2019 to that of 2023, was sent to the GSA, Congress, and the Office of Management and Budget in March. The Government Accountability Office, which conducted a separate occupancy rates using swipe-card data from individuals entering federal buildings, published similar results.
Source:
Nearly 90% of feds’ office space in DC going to waste, government report finds
Alice notes a problem that every city in America faces right now. It affects existing spaces and new building starts too. And the effect trickles down to all the service companies, from lunchtime street carts to parking lots to building service people like janitors. Happened in NYC after 9/11 too. Much of my career was spent in office automation or the ability to use communications and unified messaging to extend the workplace to anywhere. Of course we liked to eat our own dog food to try this stuff out.
Every time we made strides, some asshole in upper management, trying to make their bones, would push back saying: “You are more likely to see a ghost than a bureaucrat at some locations,” jokes Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA). “It’s time to get the ghost employees back to their old haunts and Washington back to work’ stupidly giving the nod to the notion that WAH types don’t work, either in form or in function. She is wrong, she is stupid.
Fact is the companies the succeed in the future to attract the best talent will feature a mix of on-site and remote workers where the work and the worker determine the source of supply. IOW — contented workers are more creative and productive and companies that exploit that will get the best workers. That said, there are times, jobs, and people that need to “walk amongst them” to doo the best job.
As a team leader who was responsible for the team output but had no authority over individual team members, I get it. But given my teams were across the nation, often across the globe, tough shit —- I had to figure out how to be there without physically being there. I did and in the end created better teams through geographic diversity than I would with a co-located homogenous team. However, I did demand and budget off-site planning meetings where we all got together, really together, for short, intense, multi-day planning sessions, part of which was to bond so that remote would work better. Still better than a building. Sometimes got some pushback to get everyone sitting in the same place, but I not only would demand it, but built it into my budget so I had the funding.
Joni, it’s the job and the people that should determine whether to remote or not. Certainly not just some asshole like you. And if you make mandates, quotas, and measurements, you’re just forcing onsite perhaps to no advantage —- you just don’t know because you are stupid and just stereotype WAHs as being less productive.
During the pandemic they had them work at home if the had a job that could do it that way. Well now they like it and don’t want to come back to the office. Male employees can have Momma go out to work to make money, he can be home with the kids, so he saves on child care, saves on traveling to work, no bosses on their tails, make their own hrs. Oh yes, just great. What the government should do is cut their salaries for all these savings they get now. So with the savings of cutting their salaries and open up these buildings as migrant shelters, let the government feel the problems of hotel owner and other residents have to go through where some cites are forcing migrants into their expensive hotels. You will see so many agencies ordering their people back to the office. This government spoiled their employees by doing them and now they suffer with paying taxes on empty buildings, more waste of money. But them again it’s the government we are talking about.
Anything to do with government is a total waste, empty buildings included still cost us taxpayer money to maintain unused buildings, but Congress doesn’t give a sh!t! About what we have to pay for.
the government always wasted
it just got way out of hand and the public now noticed it
government wastes more than any person
just look at the amount of FOSSIL fuel joe uses flying
and we need to change to EV just so joe can fly back and forth to delaware
and the amount of fossil fuel used to heat these empty buildings
OMG you people could mess up a wet dream…..
This is a problem, a global problem, not a US Federal government-created problem. It happened in NYC after 9/11; it’s happening now across private, charity, and government organizations. It’s called life in the big city.
You see, fixed cost is exactly that: FIXED. So, it takes awhile to sell it or use it for something else. My company had giant factories. They are now all office space. That does not happen overnight and while underway, there is less utilization of the building. Called the circle of business life.
First you have to decide which is more profitable, more productive, I guarantee some WAH is both, if not most.
Second, you have to decide how competitive you want to be to attract talent. I guarantee, all things equal, WAH will be the choice of top talent everywhere.
So, decide, do you want as some of the folks above, to mindlessly decide in office better than WAH. And then mandate that everyone be forced to drive in to work. And if other companies figure they can get equal or better performance from WAH, then you lose top talent over time. It’s called the circle of employment. Why go in when I can do it as well from home from a company that appreciates it and has figured out how to excel using it.
But to unilaterally decide that WAH is bad because the lazy bums will goof off and play with the kids all day is just not logical.
f = frank stetson. not sure what harpooned there…… :>) but don’t want f to be blamed for calling folks stupid.
Combine multiple agencies in larger buildings . Sell what you can . Save on security and maintenance costs . Turn some into housing projects . Those staying at home effectively got a very large raise !
But government employees dealing with confidential data probably oughta be in the office .
Rent the space, or better yet, let the “illegal immigrants!” live there
George, before Trump, yes. Tax code let me deduct costs just like business. Trump erased that deduction so actually costs more to WAH in heating/ac, power, water and stuff. Food is a wash clothes, with business casual, a wash. and gas — about a gallon a day, no biggee.
Running ac/heat, lights all day is the big one
They will consolidate over time and when lease contracts come up. Idiots forget that much of this space is leased and contracts must be honored.
The real answer lays in WHO OWNS THOSE EMPTY BUILDINGS AND IS BEING PAID.
Follow the money and it will all make sense.
You will smell a payoff of sorts.
As usual.
Darren, put it back in your pants, you got no reason to get excited here. No grand conspiracy.
These are multi-year leases. I doubt there’s payola in this. If you own a REIT, you probably own some.
The idea of putting immigrants there is good but probably voids the lease.
Like I said, every corporation, every city, same problem.
City loses, suburbs and Amazon gain,, life goes on.