The Trump administration has forced relocations of federal employees across at least six agencies during summer 2026, a policy it says will cut real estate costs and decentralise operations away from Washington, D.C. In practice, staff at agencies including NASA, the USDA, the CFPB and the Army Corps of Engineers report chaotic, poorly planned moves involving bedbug-infested buildings, unusable Wi-Fi, missing desks and, in some cases, no confirmed new office at all. Two lawsuits filed in July argue the relocations breach laws requiring congressional approval, and unions have raised similar concerns.

Examples cited include NASA staff evicted from Columbia University offices while the government keeps paying $2.5 million a year for the empty space until 2031, and roughly 600 USDA Forest Service employees reassigned by 20 August, with the process starting mid-wildfire season despite promises to wait. SNAP staff faced relocation from a $4 million-a-year Alexandria building to sites with a lingering bedbug problem, CFPB workers went weeks without functioning Wi-Fi or enough desks at a new Washington office, and over 400 Army Corps of Engineers employees in Manhattan face relocation by mid-August with no lease yet signed, a move that could cost more than $3 million in IT infrastructure alone.