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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says its current staff use only half the available office space and that relocating will "reduce the burden on the American taxpayer." Mark Wilson/Getty Images hide caption
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Mark Wilson/Getty Images
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is looking for a smaller, cheaper building for its headquarters. It's part of a larger Trump administration push to shrink not only the number of federal employees, but also the office spaces where they work.
In announcing the plan, the agency said its 1968 building in Washington, D.C., currently faces over $500 million in deferred "maintenance and modernization." It said current staff occupy only half the space and that relocating will "reduce the burden on the American taxpayer."
Have information you want to share about ongoing changes at HUD? NPR's Jennifer Ludden can be contacted through encrypted communications on Signal at jenniferludden.20.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner has also called the massive, curved Brutalist structure "the ugliest building in D.C."
"HUD's focus is on creating a workplace that reflects the values of efficiency, accountability, and purpose," Turner said in a statement. "We're committed to rightsizing government operations … to deliver results for the American people."
The agency did not say how much it's asking for the building.
DOGE, the cost-cutting team overseen by billionaire Elon Musk, has targeted cutting HUD staff by half, according to an internal document seen by NPR.
HUD headquarters, formally called the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, is now up for sale, although that could be complicated by its listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The agency said a timeline and final location are not yet set, but that "the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area remains a top priority."
HUD headquarters is near a busy metro stop in downtown D.C. But this week, President Trump gave federal agencies more flexibility to locate outside of city centers. He revoked two previous orders, by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, that had encouraged agencies to locate in business districts and historic properties.
Trump's order said those past measures "prevented agencies from relocating to lower-cost facilities," and that agencies "must be where the people are."
