Imagine being told to return to an office where the elevators don’t always work, building systems are outdated, and long-delayed repairs are piling up. That is the reality facing some federal workers as the government pushes employees back into offices across the country. Federal buildings are supposed to be places where government work gets done, but many are aging, underfunded, and in need of major repairs. Now, questions are growing about whether these workplaces are safe, functional, and ready for the people who work inside them.
The agency responsible for managing many of these buildings says the problem has been decades in the making. The General Services Administration, or GSA, oversees federal properties across the country and manages about 40% of the government’s office space. The agency says many of those buildings need major repairs, with a maintenance backlog estimated at around $50 billion.
The problems range from aging elevators and outdated heating and cooling systems to roofs, plumbing, and fire safety systems that need attention. Many federal buildings are more than 50 years old, and years of delayed maintenance have allowed smaller problems to become much more expensive repairs. The situation became even more complicated during the COVID pandemic, when many government buildings sat mostly empty. Reduced activity created new challenges, including concerns about stagnant water systems and the growth of bacteria like Legionnaires’ disease, which can spread through contaminated water systems.
GSA is also working to reduce its real estate portfolio by selling buildings that are outdated, underused, or too expensive to maintain. The Public Buildings Reform Board, an independent group created by Congress to recommend ways to improve federal property management, says the government owns more space than it can afford to maintain. The board is urging officials to sell unnecessary buildings and use those savings to invest in the facilities that workers and the public actually rely on.
But the process has also exposed communication challenges inside the government. In 2025, GSA released a list of hundreds of federal properties identified as potential candidates for sale. The list was quickly revised and removed from the agency’s website, creating confusion among some agencies, employees, and local officials who said they were not aware their buildings were being considered.
But selling unused buildings is only part of the challenge. High-profile renovation projects, like the modernization of the Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C., have raised questions about the cost of maintaining and upgrading aging federal properties. The project’s price tag has grown to roughly $2.5 billion, with construction still underway as crews work to improve the nearly century-old headquarters while preserving its historic design. Supporters say the upgrades are needed to address aging infrastructure and security needs, while critics question the cost as thousands of other federal buildings wait for basic repairs.
As the government debates how to address a roughly $50 billion backlog of federal building repairs, the current administration is also moving forward with several high-profile projects. A new White House ballroom is estimated to cost around $600 million, a proposed presidential arch about $100 million, and renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool more than $14 million. The projects have sparked debate over how the government balances new improvements with the ongoing need to repair thousands of federal buildings used every day by workers and the public.
