January 2023
Washington Mayor Calls for Decision on Telework for Capital’s Federal Employees
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is urging President Joe Biden to either end telework for federal employees or use the empty government office buildings in the nation’s capital to create affordable housing.
As ABC News recently reported, the federal government accounts for one-third of properties owned or leased in Washington, and represents a quarter of the city’s pre-pandemic jobs.
“The city is utilizing tax breaks to encourage the conversion of vacant office buildings as a solution to the lack of housing, but Bowser says Biden needs to help,” wrote ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson.
Delivering her inaugural address on Jan. 2, Bowser made a clear plea to the Biden administration.
“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,” said Bowser, as she was sworn in for her third term as the Mayor of the District of Columbia.
Returning to the Office or Remaining at Home?
As Bowser pointed out during her address, downtown Washington, D.C. is currently home to around 25,000 people. She laid out a goal of adding 15,000 residents over the next five years, and 87,000 more “before it’s all said and done. So, that’s right, we have a new 100,000 resident goal,” said Bowser.
Citing data from Mayor Bower’s Housing in Downtown Abatement Program, ABC News noted that 92% of D.C.’s central business district consists of commercial space. Converting that commercial office space into housing “is the key to unlocking the potential of a reimagined, more vibrant downtown,” said Bowser.
Naturally, a number of federal agencies operate out of Washington, D.C., which is home to roughly 365,000 federal employees, or more than 16% of the entire federal workforce.
Nearly a year ago, President Biden announced during his State of the Union address that federal employees based in the nation’s capital would be returning to offices, “setting an example for the country,” Government Executive’s Eric Katz wrote at the time.
“There has been guidance from the top, but agencies have been responsible for their own return-to-office policies,” Katz wrote, “and any flexibilities they may entail.”
An Office of Management and Budget (OMB) official told Government Executive that, with most federal agencies having concluded reentry by the end of April 2022, “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.”
According to Government Executive, the OMB and the General Services Administration responded to Mayor Bowser’s recent address by noting that they are “working closely with agencies as they engage in space planning exercises that take into account current and future work environments.”
For its part, the White House responded to Bowser’s remarks by saying that it has yet to make changes to telework policies for the federal workforce.
At the Jan. 3 press briefing, for example, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked to share President Biden’s vision for the future of federal work in Washington, D.C., in terms of employees working at home versus working in the office.
“[The White House doesn’t] have an announcement to make at this point,” said Jean-Pierre. “We listen to the experts, right? We certainly follow the science and listen to the experts. [I] just don’t have anything to announce today on any changes … as it relates to federal buildings and federal workers.”
10 January 2023
Category
HR News Article