Department of Housing and Urban Development Seeks to Relocate D.C. Headquarters

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) wants to relocate its headquarters within the Washington, D.C., area.

HUD, which leases all of its facilities from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), is currently in the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, a 10-story office building at 451 Seventh Street SW near D.C.’s National Mall, according to its website.

But HUD is in ongoing discussions to likely relocate the office within the D.C. metropolitan area, which includes portions of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, Bloomberg reported.

However, the department could also switch course and move to cities outside of the nation’s capital region, including Houston, Kansas City, Mo., or Akron, Ohio, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

A spokesperson for the GSA deferred questions relating to the move to HUD.

“The agency is exploring relocating to save taxpayer dollars and to ensure employees are not working [in] a building that has documented mold and clean water issues,” a spokesperson for HUD said in a statement to Commercial Observer.

The Weaver Federal Building, designed by famed Brutalist architect Marcel Breuer, has served as HUD’s headquarters since 1968 and also houses staff from the GSA, Bloomberg reported.

However, that building and other Brutalist properties that house federal agencies have come under fire by the Trump administration. Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office calling for all federal buildings to respect “classical architectural heritage.” 

HUD Secretary Scott Turner previously told Fox News the Weaver Building is the “ugliest building in D.C.,” with maintenance costs for the aging property totaling more than $500 million, according to Bloomberg.

News of the potential relocation comes after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency issued a second buyout offer this week to federal workers. The move could slash roughly half of HUD’s workforce as part of Musk’s move to downsize the U.S. government, Bloomberg reported.

It also comes after HUD was set in August to reduce its real estate portfolio in the greater D.C. area as part of the GSA’s planned “optimization program,” which the Biden administration proposed in its 2025 budget.

HUD, which had already reduced its real estate footprint by nearly 700,000 square feet between 2012 and 2023, said in the summer that it was projected to cut space by an additional 15,527 square feet in 2024, as CO previously reported.

HUD also said it has plans to reduce its portfolio by another 60 percent by 2038 — starting by closing dozens of state and local field offices and leaving as many as 34 states without offices, Bloomberg reported.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.