The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) may soon need to find new housing for itself.
The department’s headquarters building in Washington, DC, was added to the list of federal buildings designated by the General Services Administration for “accelerated disposal.” The Trump administration has been focused on shrinking the federal real estate portfolio and the property has been criticized as aesthetically displeasing by HUD Secretary Scott Turner, who has also focused on downsizing the quantity of HUD’s workforce.
“You know, HUD is known as the ugliest building in DC, which is not a mantra I like,” said Turner about the Brutalist-style property in a recent interview. “We want to create an environment here, including our building, where people want to be proud of where they come to work and carry out the mission and the assignment that we have.”
The 10-story building opened in 1968 and was named in honor of Robert C. Weaver, the first HUD secretary and the first Black member of a presidential cabinet, in 2020. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, so any potential sale would first require a historic preservation covenant.
