Trump's office directives are confounding workers and landlords
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New Trump administration moves to shrink the federal footprint are creating whiplash in an already confused and scrambling Washington.
Why it matters: The administration's push to sell government buildings and end government leases could disproportionately affect Washington's economy.
- Stunning stat: The federal government owns or leases a third of D.C.'s office space.
The directives are also causing chaos among stressed federal workers — some of whom are being told they must work in office, but also that their agencies' leases are being terminated.
The latest: The General Services Administration (GSA) on Tuesday announced that hundreds of federal buildings were for sale, with about a third concentrated in the DMV.
- The list featured about 17 million square feet of D.C. property, including well-known sites like the Justice Department's headquarters and the Department of Agriculture's building near the National Mall.
But then the GSA seemed to shift course: Later that day, all of the D.C. properties, and many in Virginia and Maryland, had been removed from its list.
- And by Wednesday, the entire list had been removed from GSA's website.
- GSA plans to republish the list after it evaluates the "overwhelming amount of interest" it received in the targeted properties, it said in a release shared with Axios.
Meanwhile, a GSA representative didn't show for a Congressional hearing on federal buildings Wednesday.
- Several members of Congress expressed concern about how quickly GSA is targeting buildings for disposal, as well as what they see as a lack of communication from GSA.
- Many said they'd found out that important civic buildings in their districts had been targeted via the news or word of mouth.
Plus: Elon Musk's DOGE is working to slash government leases.
- Agencies have until mid-April to submit plans for moving D.C.-area offices to less expensive parts of the country, and to identify properties that can have their leases terminated.
- And DOGE says they've already terminated or let expire several government leases around the region, according to a list published by the group. They include a Department of Homeland Security office in Arlington and a Bureau of Labor Statistics site in D.C.
The sprint has led to some shocked landlords receiving termination notices without a heads up.
- And some area landlords reported receiving notices even though contractually their leases can't be cut at this time, the Washington Business Journal reports.
What they're saying: "I don't think anybody bothered to read my lease," one DMV landlord told the Business Journal, calling the move "beyond sloppy."
- "This is all about someone looking to put a feather in their cap: 'Look, we terminated another lease.'"
Zoom in: Reducing federal office space would have ripple effects across the Washington region.
Losing a government tenant "would be devastating to most commercial landholders in the D.C. market," Diana Parks, National Federal Development Association chair, told the Post.
- "For all of it to hit the market in a short time, it's just a supply-and-demand issue that'll drive down the value of that real estate considerably."
It could affect Metro, as about a third of stations are built on top of federal buildings and used for workers' commutes, the Washington Post reports.
- "Metro's largest customer every day is the federal government, and it's a mutually beneficial relationship," Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia) told the Post. "If you jeopardize those patterns of work and commute, you could upend the entire Metro system that we started over 50 years ago."
Context: Many D.C. federal offices don't have the space to accommodate returning workers as is, with some flipping a coin to see who gets a workstation.
- Others have returned to spaces that aren't equipped to host them. A Department of Education employee told CNN that during their first week back, their office didn't have computers or conference rooms for confidential work.
The intrigue: The GSA recently launched a program to help federal workers without workstations find available space at other agencies' sites.
- Called Space Match, the program is supposed to help "optimize their space, reduce rent costs, and support Office of Management and Budget's 60% office utilization goal," while helping to "minimize waste."
- Agencies like the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security are "exploring Space Match's potential," per the GSA.
Yes, but: It's not guaranteed furniture or Wi-Fi will be provided.
Editor's note: This story was updated to add new details about the GSA's efforts to sell federal properties, and information about how reducing federal space could affect the Washington region.