No federal building in the nation has met the 60% occupancy minimum required by law to stay open, an independent government agency reported Thursday.
The bipartisan Public Buildings Reform Board’s analysis of General Services Administration data noted that just 275,336 of roughly 2 million federal employees nationwide worked in their offices after the law took effect, costing American taxpayers $1.34 billion a year.
That includes all federal agencies, except those for the judicial branch and the Department of Defense, which did not report their numbers.
“There is just far more space than the government needs,” Dan Matthews, a Biden appointee to the board, said Thursday during a public hearing on the data.
The USE IT Act, which took full effect in July 2025, directs federal agencies to restaff their underused office space within 12 months or else get rid of it.
The General Services Administration manages a federal real estate portfolio of more than 350 million square feet nationwide. Roughly 40% of federal buildings are in the District, where extended telework during the pandemic emptied them.
Mr. Matthews, a former GSA public buildings commissioner, called for aggressive consolidation and urged agencies to lease unused space while the Trump administration decides which buildings to shed.
Nevertheless, he said exceptions would have to be made for properties such as the FBI’s holding cells and field offices where agents are often away.
The reform board estimates that the GSA has received repair allocations equaling just 0.375% of the portfolio’s functional replacement value for decades. That’s well below the industry standard of 2% to 4% and has contributed to more than $50 billion of deferred maintenance and repair liabilities.
Board member Nick Rahall estimated during the hearing that federal workers occupy only “a quarter to a half” of the nation’s government buildings, even as taxpayers pay “a premium market rate” to keep them open.
“The lights are on, but nobody is home,” said Mr. Rahall, a former Republican congressman from West Virginia.
He said the board “found leaky roofs, unsafe elevators, and flooded basements” in many federal courthouses — and estimated that renovations can cost up to $1,000 per square foot for the most historic properties.
Sen. Joni Ernst, who co-sponsored the USE IT Act to target buildings that became “ghost towns” during pandemic telework, said the occupancy numbers reported Thursday demand immediate action.
“With Americans struggling to pay the high cost of their own housing, they shouldn’t be forced to continue subsidizing millions of dollars of empty building maintenance,” Ms. Ernst said in a statement to The Times.
“No more excuses,” she added. “Put the least used on the auction block tomorrow and let the bidding begin.”
The Washington Times reached out to the White House for comment.
The Trump administration has implemented mass federal layoffs and accelerated the disposal of government properties.
In May 2025, the Office of Management and Budget approved the reform board’s recommendation to ax 11 government buildings worth $5.4 billion in the Washington metro area and seven other cities. That includes the Department of Energy headquarters and the home of the Voice of America, which the Trump administration gutted in budget cuts.
In March, the administration announced it would sell the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s South building, marking the first use of the USE IT Act to alienate a crumbling government space. GSA officials estimated that USDA South was just 15% occupied.
Trump-sizing government
The Trump team’s endorsement of the reform board’s recommendations has reversed a period of inaction during the Biden administration.
Authorized by Congress at the end of the Obama administration, the Public Buildings Reform Board’s statutory authority empowers the White House to get buildings to market faster than other mechanisms.
Under the first Trump administration in 2020, the board proposed axing 12 properties, 10 of which have since been sold for a total of $193 million. A 2022 report called on Biden administration officials to dump another 15 properties worth $275 million during widespread pandemic teleworking allowances, but they did not adopt the plan.
The board reported to Congress that only 12% of federal headquarters space in the District was occupied, as federal workers resisted returning to the office in the first nine months of 2023. That included an average of just eight employees working each day in the James V. Forrestal Building, which has a capacity of 4,388 seats for Energy Department workers.
Of the 11 buildings approved for disposal last year, only one has gone to market so far: the former GSA Regional Office Building at 7th and D Streets NW, on the edge of Washington’s Southwest waterfront district.
The GSA announced in March that Dalian Development purchased the building for $24.26 million, with plans to convert it into rental apartments and a ground-floor museum.
The GSA announced this month that another private developer purchased the Liberty Loan Building overlooking the Tidal Basin in Southwest Washington for $17.5 million — the second waterfront property sold under the Trump administration’s downsizing campaign.
Public-private partnerships have transformed the Southwest waterfront into a thriving night spot and attractive real estate prospect in recent years.
But reform board member Mike Capuano, a former Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, said the real estate market is “not ready to absorb” more massive government buildings around the Southwest waterfront.
He said Thursday that the board is exploring ways to cut up and consolidate other properties rather than selling them, citing the lack of a comprehensive D.C. redevelopment plan and new tenants for the popular tourist area.
Future plans
The reform board is scheduled to sunset at the end of this year after delivering a final round of recommended properties to shed.
The board on Thursday pointed to 26 crumbling government buildings in 15 states that it was considering for possible disposal.
It estimated that shedding these buildings would save taxpayers $1.2 billion in deferred maintenance and repair costs over the next 30 years. This list includes Silver Spring Metro Center 1 in Maryland, which hosts most of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 12,000 workers.
Mass layoffs and voluntary departures cut NOAA’s workforce by 1,880 to 2,000 employees last year, a 15% to 20% decline.
The board also said it was evaluating another eight properties for possible disposal recommendations to the White House. They include the Franconia Warehouse Building in Virginia and the State Department’s Columbia Plaza Federal Building in Foggy Bottom
“I think it’s a work in progress, in terms of where the ultimate moves will be and where employees will end up,” said David Winstead, a reform board member and former GSA public buildings commissioner.
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