FIRST ON FOX: The Housing and Urban Development (HUD) headquarters in Washington, D.C., is among the federal buildings that turned desolate like an off-season “Spirit Halloween” store as employees worked from home under the Biden administration and left offices relatively untouched since the first Trump administration, Fox News Digital has learned.
“For four years, the American people witnessed their government buildings transform overnight into massive, taxpayer-funded ‘Spirit Halloween’ stores,” a senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital Tuesday.
Spirit Halloween costume stores occupy vacant storefronts in strip malls and shopping centers in the lead up to Halloween, but typically sit empty the rest of the year.
Fox News Digital learned that HUD offices are equipped to accommodate a maximum of 6,015 people, but that the number of desks and offices set up at HUD’s headquarters, the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, sits at 3,002, according to HUD data provided to Fox News Digital.
The average number of people who actually worked out of the building during 2023 and 2024, when President Joe Biden was in office, was 705, according to data provided to Fox News Digital.
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Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, left, tasked Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency with weeding out waste at his agency. (The Associated Press/Getty)
Costs for operating the 10-story building – which is styled in the popular minimalist Brutalist architecture of the 1950s – also come with lofty price tags. Fiscal year 2024 cost taxpayers $111,978,115 in combined rent and operating costs for the Weaver building, Fox Digital learned.
The Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, located in Washington, D.C., cost taxpayers $111,978,115 to rent and operate in fiscal year 2024. (Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital obtained a photo taken in the HUD office in 2025 that shows an employee’s business card tacked onto a white board. Administration officials confirmed to Fox Digital that the card was placed on the white board at the end of Trump’s first administration, and apparently remained untouched and in the same place until officials under the second Trump administration spotted it.
Blacked out business card that remained on HUD white board untouched for four years. (Fox News Digital)
“This is why President Trump has been vocal about getting employees to return to work in the office on behalf of the American people,” the senior administration official told Fox News Digital. “They deserve better – eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse was a cornerstone of the president’s campaign and is a defining feature of President Trump’s first 100 days.”
Scott Turner, who was confirmed as the nation’s 19th HUD secretary earlier in February, added in a comment to Fox News Digital that “the four-year vacation” under the Biden administration “is over.”
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“This is a huge disservice to the American people and a massive waste of hard-earned taxpayer dollars. Let me be clear – the four year vacation is over,” Turner told Fox Digital. “I’ve been on many teams in my career, and I know from experience that in-person teamwork ensures accountability and fosters an environment of collaboration, creativity and communication. At HUD, we’re getting back to work for the American people.”
Scott Turner appears before the Senate ahead of his confirmation vote to serve as Housing and Urban Development secretary. (Getty Images)
President Donald Trump signed a memo on his first day back in the Oval Office ordering agency heads to terminate remote work arrangements that had been ongoing since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
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“Following the Presidential Memorandum Return to In-Person Work dated January 20, 2025, the department initial notice was sent to all HUD employees on Friday, January 24, outlining HUD’s phased approach to return to in-person work and announcing the dates for Phases 1 and 2,” an administration official told Fox News Digital of the HUD working requirements. “Phase 1 has already been implemented, and HUD anticipates that this timeline will result in over 88% of the entire HUD workforce reporting to the office full-time by February 24, 2025.”
The Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, said it found $1.9 billion in misplaced Housing and Urban Development funds. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press )
Turner was confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 5, announcing just days later that he launched a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force of HUD employees to weed out “waste, fraud and abuse” at the agency.
DOGE, which is led by Elon Musk, additionally reported in February that it had identified $1.9 billion in misplaced HUD funds and worked with Turner to release the funds to the U.S. Treasury.
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“HUD will be detailed and deliberate about every dollar spent to serve rural, tribal and urban communities,” Turner said Thursday. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are no longer in a business-as-usual posture and the DOGE task force will play a critical role in helping to identify and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse and ultimately better serve the American people. We have already identified over $260 million in savings and we have more to accomplish.”