A Plan to Hasten the Sale of Surplus Federal Property Gets Bogged Down

A little-known independent board created to expedite the disposal of unused land and buildings has been hampered by a lawsuit, staff shortages and pushback from other agencies.

The plan sounded simple enough. The federal government has long owned more real estate than it knows what to do with — buildings that sit empty and sites that are underdeveloped — but it must jump through hoops before it can sell its holdings. So surplus properties languish while taxpayers foot the bill for maintenance. The solution, springing from legislation passed in 2016, was an independent agency that would quickly identify underused properties and expedite their disposal.