HousingWireHousingWire
Life in the federal workforce today is a bit chaotic, to say the least.
The widespread control over the federal government that’s been granted by President Donald Trump to Elon Musk by has resulted in departments shutting down and then reopening, mass firings followed by employment reinstatements, and a wave of lawsuits that have made it nearly impossible for civil servants to navigate their day-to-day lives.
The uncertainty for those who remain employed extends to where they actually do their work. One of Musk’s first moves was to rescind privileges related to remote work by issuing a return-to-office mandate. At the same time, the administration wants to sell office buildings it owns and cancel leases for those it rents.
Pushback on Musk has caused his team to backtrack on many of these actions. The General Services Administration (GSA), which manages government office space, has narrowed the list of buildings it wants to sell from more than 440 to just eight.
It has also had to reinstate many leases on which it had sent termination notices. The GSA originally tried to cancel 827 leases but had to backtrack on more than 100 of them, sometimes due to objections from Republican lawmakers.
That’s because some of the leases involve space for agencies that provide critical services. According to The New York Times, these include a New Mexico office that disposes of nuclear waste and one in Florida that manages hurricane response.
Musk’s “break things and ask questions later” approach to reducing the size and scope of the federal government will have the most impact in Texas — the state where Tesla‘s headquarters have been relocated to.
The Lone Star State overwhelmingly has the most office buildings owned by the federal government at 374, which represents 20% of all federally owned offices. The next highest share is in Washington, D.C., at just under 10%, followed by Maryland at 6.7%.
Texas also has 520 offices leased by the federal government, accounting for 7.7% of all federal leases. California has the most with 620, or 9.2% of all federal leases. The next highest is Florida with a 5.5% share.
While the Trump administration has taken a step back in regard to reducing the government’s office footprint, it’s by no means giving up. A GSA official told The Wall Street Journal that it’s accelerating its plans to sell office buildings and is willing to do so at a discount if necessary.
