The federal government spends billions of dollars annually to lease and maintain office space in Washington, DC, yet just 6% of federal workers report being in-person on a full-time basis, leaving much of the government’s office space empty while taxpayers foot the bill.
The government owns 7,697 vacant buildings and another 2,265 partially empty buildings. Maintaining and leasing government office buildings costs $8 billion every year, and another $7.7 billion is spent on the energy to keep them running.
With the federal workforce still largely working from home, not one major government agency or department headquarters in DC is even half full. Nearly one-third of the federal workforce is entirely remote, according to a report from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
“‘Out of the office’ is taking on a whole new meaning in the nation’s capital since most
government employees are rarely in the office,” the report reads. “As a result, the nation’s capital is a ghost town, with government buildings averaging an occupancy rate of 12 percent. If federal employees can’t be found at their desks, exactly where are they?”
Not a single headquarters of a major government agency or department in the nation’s capital is even half full. Yet it’s costing $8 billion every year to maintain or lease government office buildings. Another $7.7 billion is being expended annually for the energy to keep them
running. And billions more are being spent buying brand new furnishings for the largely
abandoned offices inside them.
The Department of Energy is the least utilized building, with just eight employees counted for the daily average in 2023, though office management reportedly refuted the attendance estimate. Other agencies with the emptiest office spaces include the Agency for Global Media, the US Department of Agriculture, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Over $81 million is wasted every year for the underutilized government office space
alone, the report states. Furthermore, billions of additional dollars have gone toward buying brand-new furnishings for the abandoned offices. Though federal employees worked from home during the COVID emergency, Open the Books found that agencies continued to spend upward of $3 billion on furniture.
The report suggests either bringing employees back into the office or consolidating office space to reduce costs and auctioning off unneeded properties to generate revenues.
“There is a simple answer: Use it or lose it!” the report added. “If departments and agencies are not utilizing at least 60 percent of their office space, coworking arrangements should be made for consolidating and sharing space with other agencies.”
The waste watch report comes as President-elect Donald Trump plans to form the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to reduce inefficiencies within the federal government. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are slated to lead the new agency and have said part of cutting out excess spending will include cutting fully remote work options for federal employees.
“When Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20 and that new golden age of America begins, he’s going to tell the federal workers of this country who your viewers pay for to get back into the office and do their jobs or find another line of work,” said Stephen Miller, who is set to be Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff for policy.
Through our Waste Watch series, Carolina Journal shines a spotlight on wasteful government spending at both the state and federal levels, exposing projects that squander taxpayer dollars.