The D.C. Mayor Wants ‘Decisive Action’ on the Federal Government’s Return to Office Plans

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said: “We need decisive action by the White House to either get most federal workers back to the office, most of the time, or to realign their vast property holdings for use by the local government, by nonprofits, by businesses and by any user willing to revitalize it.” 

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said: “We need decisive action by the White House to either get most federal workers back to the office, most of the time, or to realign their vast property holdings for use by the local government, by nonprofits, by businesses and by any user willing to revitalize it.”  Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

There has been movement to get some employees back in person and assess real estate needs, but the mayor would like more specifics.  

Efforts have been underway for a while now on return-to-office strategies and real estate assessments for the federal workforce, following maximum telework during the initial phases of the coronavirus pandemic. But earlier this week, the mayor of the nation’s capital asked for some more specifics: she said she wants “decisive action” by the federal government on what the future of the federal office will look like, in order to help revitalize the downtown area of Washington, D.C. after the pandemic. 

“The federal government represents one-quarter of D.C.’s pre-pandemic jobs and owns or leases one-third of our office space,” said District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, during her swearing in ceremony on Monday. “We need decisive action by the White House to either get most federal workers back to the office, most of the time, or to realign their vast property holdings for use by the local government, by nonprofits, by businesses and by any user willing to revitalize it.” 

President Biden proclaimed during his State of the Union address in March that federal employees would be returning to offices, setting an example for the country. There has been guidance from the top, but agencies have been responsible for their own return-to-office policies and any flexibilities they may entail. 

Bowser stressed the need to take back D.C.’s downtown, as it is the “economic engine” that lets the capital city invest in schools, the safety net and public works. Currently, 25,000 people live downtown, but Bowser is seeking to add 15,000 residents over the next five years and 87,000 more (to bring the total up to 100,000) ultimately. 

Many federal agencies have their headquarters in downtown D.C. In the greater Washington, D.C. area, there were about 365,300 federal employees as of November, according to an online database run by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. That represents roughly 16.8% of the entire federal workforce. 

An Office of Management and Budget official previously told Government Executive that “with most agencies having concluded reentry by the end of April and others concluding reentry in the following weeks, the vast majority of federal employees either are or will soon be working at their official worksites and, as appropriate, doing so with updated work arrangements that advance agency missions, including delivery of federal services.” 

Regarding the mayor’s remarks, the General Services Administration, the federal government’s landlord, and OMB “are working closely with agencies as they engage in space planning exercises that take into account current and future work environments,” said an OMB official on Tuesday. In July, OMB restarted a process, launched under the Trump administration, for agencies to assess their real property needs, which directs them to consider what their future looks like after the pandemic. 

Agencies were required to submit plans for fiscal 2024-2028 to OMB and the Federal Real Property Council by December 16, 2022. Before the pandemic, there has been a years-long process, spanning multiple administrations, to get the federal real estate footprint to an appropriate size. 

“We are confident in the strength of this existing governmentwide capital planning process and the existing real property policy framework and believe it will identify appropriate office space portfolio reduction opportunities over time,” the OMB official said. “Appropriations over multiple fiscal years will likely be required to fully implement agencies’ optimal portfolios.”

When asked during the briefing on Tuesday what the president views as the future for the federal workforce in D.C. and what that means for the downtown area, in regard to the mayor’s speech, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration “follow[s] the science and listen[s] to the experts. I just don't have anything to announce today on any changes… as it relates to federal buildings and federal workers.” She reiterated the president’s remarks that the country is in a different place than when the Biden administration took over and touted its accomplishments.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.