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The Department of Housing and Urban Development is moving the bulk of its roughly 3,000 Washington-based employees to a new headquarters in Alexandria this week, even as the agency faces unresolved legal questions, a congressional watchdog investigation, and a union campaign to block the relocation.
Politico reported last Friday that the bulk move was set to begin the week of March 16. In a March 11 email to employees, HUD said it plans to complete the majority of transfers between March 9 and April 6, citing "positive feedback" from staffers who moved earlier. Some employees had already relocated in January.
HUD is moving from the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building in Washington to 2415 Eisenhower Avenue in Alexandria — the building the National Science Foundation vacated earlier this year after being displaced to make room for HUD. NSF, which now lists 401 Dulany Street as its official headquarters address, relocated to the Randolph Building on the Carlyle Innovation Campus.
The cost
The total relocation cost is just below $70 million, according to figures HUD shared with Politico this month. That figure includes more than $26.2 million to relocate NSF employees from the Alexandria building and $57 million to resolve long-term liabilities tied to capital improvements at the Weaver Building. HUD has defended the move by saying the Weaver Building would require more than $609 million in updates and repairs to remain operational.
HUD has been funding the relocation through the FY25 continuing resolution. Congress did not include funding for a headquarters transition in the FY26 budget. A bipartisan Senate appropriations report published last July stressed the need for "transparency on any decision as significant and costly as the moving from HUD's headquarters building."
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) wrote in a Feb. 13 letter that HUD's latest cost estimates were 40% higher than earlier projections. Their letter prompted the Government Accountability Office to open a review; GAO has confirmed the investigation is underway.
Legal questions
At the center of the union's legal challenge is the HUD Act of 1968, which established the department "at the seat of government." U.S. code specifies that "all offices attached to the seat of government shall be exercised in the District of Columbia, and not elsewhere, except as otherwise expressly provided by law." The union argues no such express provision exists for HUD's move to Virginia. It has also raised the same concern about Ginnie Mae, the government-owned mortgage corporation under HUD, which is similarly required by law to maintain its principal office in Washington.
"HUD is moving forward with implementation of an agency headquarters relocation without identifying any statute authorizing a Cabinet-level department to relocate its principal headquarters outside Washington, D.C.," Sal Viola, chief steward of AFGE Council 222, said in a statement to Politico. The move raises "issues of congressional authority, appropriations, and oversight."
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said the administration has kept Congress without basic information about the move. "We need more transparency and more insight into their plans when it's possible to ask questions and make changes, not just be presented after the fact with what they've decided to do," Warren told Politico.
On the ground
A Local 476 official, speaking to Government Executive on condition of anonymity due to concerns about retaliation, said employees already working from the Alexandria building are using personal hotspots to access Wi-Fi — an infrastructure issue the union says contributed to earlier delays in the move.
The same official described a February town hall at which a worker asked whether the agency's transit subsidy could be increased to offset longer commutes. According to the official, a senior leader said they were unsure, then discussed happy hours near the new location and the quality of the building's drinking water ice.
"The agency is not doing the basic due diligence to ensure that employees' work-life balances are not negatively impacted," the official told Government Executive. "They have moved forward without money, a plan or bargaining with the union in order to make a goal of moving to Virginia for the sake of moving to Virginia."
Politico reported in February that HUD proposed firing a union official after she raised concerns about the move with senior leadership.
HUD's position
In a statement, a HUD spokesperson said the department "has and will continue to comply fully with all applicable laws and regulations" and that the move "prioritizes employee wellbeing and is expected to save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars." HUD did not respond to questions from Government Executive about the building's readiness, the "seat of government" legal question, or what documentation it has provided to the union.
The petitions
AFGE Local 476's Legislative Political Committee has published two online petitions urging DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb to investigate the legality of the relocation and take legal action to block it absent congressional authorization, and asking lawmakers to conduct oversight and require HUD to produce documentation and legal justification for the move. The Alexandria Brief has reached out to Local 476 for comment.
Local 476 represents approximately 2,500 HUD headquarters employees and is based in Room 3142 of the Robert C. Weaver Building, as part of the National Council 222 of HUD Locals and the American Federation of Government Employees.
