The General Services Administration has reportedly been tasked with terminating leases. Douglas Rissing / Getty Images
Despite forcing more federal employees to work in-person, the Trump administration is trying to slash government office space
The Biden administration also sought to shrink the federal real estate portfolio.
Officials are pursuing initiatives to get rid of federal property, even though President Donald Trump has largely ended remote work flexibility for government workers.
Return to Office Troubles
At the American Federation of Government Employees conference on Feb. 10 in Washington, D.C., union leaders said agencies are struggling to find space for remote workers who have been ordered to now report to an office.
“I’ve had members call me and tell me they’re having to work in closets because they don’t have the space,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said during a media roundtable, adding that such issues could violate safe workplace requirements in union contracts.
Sheria Smith, an AFGE official who represents Education Department employees, said some individuals aren’t sure which office to work at, even though the deadline for compliance is fast approaching.
“Our employees have been sent directives to return to an office by Feb. 23, but they do not know where their office is, where the floor is, where their cubicle is,” she said. “So they have been given a directive with none of the information needed to comply.”
A spokesperson for the Education Department told Government Executive in a statement that the acting secretary “sent a letter on January 24, 2025 that employees within a 50-mile radius of a duty station must return to work by February 23, 2025. She also specified that the Office of Human Resources will work [with] those with extenuating circumstances and need reasonable accommodations.”
Reduce Federal Real Estate Inventory
At the same time, the Trump administration is seeking to offload property that the federal government owns and rents, which, in some respects, is a continuation of a priority from the Biden administration.
Michael Peters — Trump’s pick to lead the General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service, which manages government properties — said at a Jan. 28 meeting of the Public Buildings Reform Board that the federal portfolio could be halved.
“I’m just getting ramped up, but I think our initial review says that number could be up to a 50% reduction in our square footage across the portfolio,” he said. “We’re not going to do that in six months, but we’re going to try to do it as rapidly as we can.”
The PBR Board was established in 2016 to identify opportunities for reducing the federal property inventory.
Robin Carnahan, Biden’s GSA administrator, said in a January interview with Federal News Network that a review showed the federal government could reduce its portfolio by 30%, which would save $60 billion over 10 years.
Lease Terminations
Also, the Associated Press reported that GSA is prioritizing lease terminations. The effort is apparently being led by Nicole Hollander, a former employee of X, which is owned by Elon Musk. The billionaire is spearheading a mass removal of federal employees.
Pillsbury law firm on Feb. 4 published a blog that noted, while most federal contracts have termination for convenience clauses that enable the government to relatively easily exit the agreements, leases generally do not have such clauses. The lawyers hypothesized, however, that GSA could take advantage of early exit provisions, under which the agency and lessor agree on a date to terminate the lease before it is completed.
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency in late January touted five lease cancelations, saying the focus is on “unoccupied” and “mostly empty” office buildings.
GSA did not respond to a request for comment regarding if any or how many leases have been canceled since then.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., the top Republican on a subcommittee with jurisdiction over federal buildings, said during a July 2024 hearing that 50% of GSA managed leases are set to expire by 2027.
Roadblocks
As of fall 2024, GSA owns and leases more than 363 million square feet, including more than 8,100 separate leased properties.
GSA announced in December that it was in the process of disposing of more than 6 million square feet in federal buildings.
While shedding property would save the government money, a lack of funding has inhibited the offloading process. Elliot Doomes, Biden’s PBS commissioner, testified at the July 2024 hearing that the agency missed out on 120 consolidation opportunities in recent years due to underfunding.
Another consideration is that GSA’s deferred maintenance and repairs backlog reached $80 billion in fiscal 2022.
“The deferred maintenance is reflected in the condition of these buildings. If you toured many of them, you wouldn’t want to be there with your dog, much less with your work environment,” Peters said at the Jan. 28 meeting. “They’re falling apart, and that’s not acceptable, and that’s not what we’re about.”
The Government Accountability Office in 2003 added real property management to its high-risk list. In 2023, the oversight agency said the federal government has “long struggled with excess and underutilized space.”
Despite the energy focused on downsizing the federal portfolio, Michael Capuano, a former congressman and Biden appointee to the PBR Board, warned at the Jan. 28 meeting that the process has proven tricky.
“GSA just sold a building…for $177 million. It took five years after our recommendation. It wasn’t just our recommendation. It was a recommendation that was approved and supported by both GSA and [Office of Management and Budget],” he said. “Everybody agreed that the building should be sold. And it still took five years.”