The latest in a long line of pandemic-related policy spats for President Joe Biden erupted on Tuesday morning when Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) called for the federal government to either send employees back to the office or abandon its real estate for housing projects.
Federal employees have been working remotely for the most part since March 2020, leaving downtown Washington far less full than it was in prior years. Meanwhile, Bowser is pushing for more affordable housing in the nation’s capital, leading to her call for something to give.
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“Right now, 25,000 people call downtown home. Here’s our goal: We will add 15,000 residents over the next five years and 87,000 more before it’s all said and done,” Bowser said upon beginning her third term in office. “That’s a bold goal, but the fact is, no matter what we do, it won’t be fast enough without the help of the White House.”
The federal government owns or leases roughly one-third of all buildings in downtown Washington, which have been largely vacant since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Bowser. Now, the mayor is calling on Biden to either return federal workers to the buildings or turn them over to groups that will use them.
“We must and we will win back our downtown because it is the economic engine that allows us to invest in our schools, our safety net, and our public works — the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg,” Bowser said. “The good news is that we are already taking on pandemic-related challenges like population loss, revenue loss, and tourism recovery.”
Biden has been accused of flip-flopping on pandemic policies, citing COVID-19 as an emergency when needed and saying it’s over or that his policies have moved the country beyond it when convenient.
The White House’s mask mandate ended last March, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention argued in May that Title 42 should be lifted, citing “current public health conditions and an increased availability of tools to fight COVID-19.”
In September, Biden twice told CBS correspondent Scott Pelley that “the pandemic is over,” noting that no one was wearing masks while strolling through the Detroit Auto Show.
And in late December, the president touted progress in his Christmas address.
“Things are getting better,” he said Dec. 23. “COVID no longer controls our lives. Our kids are back in school. People are back to work.”
Yet many federal government employees are not back to work, at least not in person. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about the issue Tuesday afternoon.
“I don’t have any announcement to make from here, or any response, really, to Mayor Bowser,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that Biden is committed to making housing more affordable. She also said the administration will “follow the science and listen to the experts” and urged people to get the latest vaccine.
Just 3% of federal employees teleworked before 2020, according to NPR, a number that swelled to 59% that year. The figure is now 46%, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. It’s unclear how much Washington office space could reasonably be converted to housing given the vast differences in layout between office and residential real estate.
Aside from any health concerns, returning to the office has become an issue for employee unions — a crucial constituency for Biden.
The National Archives reached an agreement in December with the American Federation of Government Employees in which all full-time positions will be eligible for remote work.
Conservatives tend to agree with Bowser — either give up remote work or give up the real estate.
“Mayor Bowser is half-right: Federal buildings should not be empty if the Biden administration wants to continue COVID-era telework policies,” said Tea Party Patriots Action Honorary Chairwoman Jenny Beth Martin. “However, Bowser is wrong in demanding the buildings be converted to ‘affordable housing.’ The best solution is to give the taxpayers a break: Sell the buildings and use the proceeds to reduce the national debt.”
A report released last May found that federal agencies were not tracking whether their remote employees were logging into their work computers and that expanded telework coincided with a steep decline in the use of vacation time and sick days.
Then-Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) lashed out at the White House in July, saying his constituents couldn’t get services from Veterans Affairs or Social Security and attributing the issue to federal workers not being in the office.
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“It is a matter of good government to have a grasp on the real and potential impacts before making telework permanent,” he said.
