HUD plans to move operations from Washington to Virginia

Akayla Gardner, Bloomberg News on Jun 25, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is relocating its headquarters to a federal building in Virginia, months after the agency’s existing space downtown in Washington was put up for sale as part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to consolidate its real estate.

The move, announced Wednesday by Housing Secretary Scott Turner and Virginia’s Republican governor Glenn Youngkin, will bring 2,700 HUD employees across the Potomac River to Alexandria, Virginia, where they’ll work in what’s now the National Science Foundation offices.

HUD’s current headquarters, just south of the National Mall in L’Enfant Plaza, was put up for sale in April as part of the administration’s broader divestment of federal properties. Turner has called the headquarters “the ugliest building in D.C.” The aging facility, known formally as the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, cost $56 million a year to operate and requires as much $500 million in estimated maintenance.

Turner has said the relocation was necessary to address potential health risks and structural failures.

The agency says it will implement a staggered relocation plan for employees to the new headquarters. A HUD press release made no mention of whether NSF staff will be moved out of the facility. NSF declined to comment. The Trump administration has slashed the science agency’s budget.

The American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403, which represents the NSF staff, said more than 1,833 of them work in the building.

“Many were forced to relocate to Northern Virginia with very short notice and at great personal expense when return to work orders were given,” the union said.

_____