Government’s Empty Buildings Are Costing Taxpayers Billions

"The boarded up building in the photo sits a mere 6 blocks from the White House on prime real estate but it’s been empty for 30 years! What’s the problem? The building is owned/controlled by the Federal government which often doesn’t even know what it owns, lacks the incentive to control costs and whose bureaucratic strictures make selling difficult even when motivation exists.
From an excellent piece on NPR:
Government estimates suggest there may be 77,000 empty or underutilized buildings across the country. Taxpayers own them, and even vacant, they’re expensive. The Office of Management and Budget believes these buildings could be costing taxpayers $1.7 billion a year.
…But doing something with these buildings is a complicated job. It turns out that the federal government does not know what it owns.
…even when an agency knows it has a building it would like to sell, bureaucratic hurdles limit it from doing so. No federal agency can sell anything unless it’s uncontaminated, asbestos-free and environmentally safe. Those are expensive fixes.
Then the agency has to make sure another one doesn’t want it. Then state and local governments get a crack at it, then nonprofits — and finally, a 25-year-old law requires the government to see if it could be used as a homeless shelter.
Many agencies just lock the doors and say forget it."...
- See more at: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalr ... 24jZj.dpuf

But Bob if we stop paying for these facilities where will the new agencies of the ever growing pig of a Gubment "we" voted for going to grow in to? Oh wait, it would "be more smarter" to build new facilities and make sure they're "green" so we can save the 'Merican public some money...

The military can hand out admired military vehicles to any police force who wants them but doesn't know what to do with empty buildings? Let OWS occupy them! Squatters rights!