HUD to move into the National Science Foundation headquarters, no current plan on where to relocate NSF employees

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday announced that HUD will be moving its headquarters into the National Science Foundation’s building in Alexandria, Va., but they said there isn’t a timeline and that no decision has been made regarding where NSF employees will be relocated. 

Public Buildings Service Commissioner Michael Peters, who leads a division of the General Services Administration that manages federal buildings, said “the timing of the transition is still being worked out.”

“It's going to be done in an efficient manner that allows NSF to continue to form and function as they do, but also allows us to get HUD into this space as quickly as possible,” he said. 

HUD and GSA in April announced that they would list for sale the department’s current headquarters, the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building in Washington, D.C., which has more than $500 million in deferred maintenance and modernization needs. The office building also is at half of its total occupancy, despite nearly all employees working in person because of the virtual elimination of telework flexibility. 

“This move also signifies the prioritization of health, safety and well being for our HUD workforce who have previously been working in unsafe conditions to this day,” Turner said. “I would hope that no leader in government or otherwise would expect staff to work every day in an atmosphere where the air quality is questionable, leaks are nearly unstoppable and the HVAC is almost unworkable — just to name a few examples — in addition to the broken elevator banks that have been broken for years.” 

Youngkin, a Republican, said that he lobbied HUD to relocate its 2,700 HQ employees to Virginia but still wants NSF to stay in the northern part of the state. 

“We had multiple sites that we presented to GSA for HUD, and we're just dusting off and going to present them for NSF,” he said. “I view this as a great opportunity for us to provide another great home for a great workforce. [And] folks that are used to living and working and being in Virginia, I want to keep them here.”

Likewise, Peters said that officials want to minimize disruption and are evaluating buildings “in close proximity.” 

“If I were a betting man, I would bet [NSF] will end up in Virginia,” he said. “But that’s not a promise.” 

Ahead of the announcement, American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403 criticized the move. The union said that many of the roughly 1,800 NSF employees who work in the building relocated to Northern Virginia because of the return-to-office mandate. 

While noting that they hadn’t been provided exact details, union officials also said they were informed that the relocation plans include an executive suite for the HUD secretary, the construction of an executive dining room and a potential gym for the secretary and his family. 

Turner called the allegations “ridiculous” and “not true.” 

“This is about the posterity and the future of HUD, not just for now, but for those that are coming behind me,” he said. “My family and I were already blessed before we came here. Working here is a sacrifice for all the people that work in federal government, including the secretary. And so this is about the HUD employees. This is not about me.”

While staff were preparing for the press conference, NSF employees started gathering in the room. The press conference was moved to a different, more secluded space because the event was inadvertently being set up in the wrong location, according to a HUD spokesperson. 

As the press conference was being relocated, the employees started booing and chanted “N-S-F!” The employees could still be heard in the second room.