‘They just do whatever they want’: DOGE staffers turn federal office space into living quarters

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency staffers are allegedly squatting in federal office space, and no one is quite sure why the General Service Administration is permitting the bizarre arrangement.

The DOGE staffers appear to be borrowing a page from Musk’s playbook, as reports alleged he was sleeping on the floor of his DOGE office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building just steps away from the White House. He has also been open about living in workspaces before, including his Tesla factory. While Musk’s fans may call his arrangements “dedication,” others see it as very weird and indicative of his micro-managing and interference tendencies. After all, given how Donald Trump’s Cabinet members seem to have reached their limit with Musk’s shenanigans, they’d probably like a reprieve from him occasionally. However, he appears resistant to letting the President go further than a few steps away from him at all times.

Although it’s not entirely unheard of for White House members to sleep in their office occasionally, having random staffers set up living quarters in office space is quite different.

DOGE staffers take over GSA office space

According to Politico, DOGE staffers are living in federal office space in the GSA. They have allegedly turned four separate offices on the sixth floor into living quarters, furnishing them with IKEA beds, lamps, and dressers. They also appear to have set up a daycare of sorts, as photos depicted a play area in one room with toys and stuffed animals. The outlet obtained an invoice showing the agency was planning on investing $25,000 in their living quarters by installing a washer and dryer.

GSA staffers told Politico, “People are definitely … sleeping there,” although it’s unclear how often or how long these living quarters are used. Naturally, the arrangement is quite off-putting. The government isn’t just giving DOGE staffers free housing but is willing to spend money to furnish their free living quarters. Given that Musk and these DOGE staffers have been aggressively cutting the federal workforce and insisting everything is “waste,” it’s bizarre that the government is potentially giving them a completely unnecessary $25,000 washer and dryer instead of telling them to do their laundry at home. Yet, GSA defended the arrangement, insisting it was in accordance with the “Sleeping in Federal Buildings bulletin.”

However, the bulletin stipulates that employees should only sleep in offices if directed to do so by a supervisor in an emergency or a situation where absolutely necessary. The bulletin doesn’t suggest that employees can just decide to live in their offices, especially since a constituent at Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam’s town hall has alleged that a DOGE staffer even has his wife and children living in the office space. Access to the floor is allegedly cut off except for a special list of people, meaning it’s difficult for employees to scope out the situation or know what’s happening. Subramanyam stated, “This is the problem with DOGE. There’s very little transparency and accountability, and they kind of just do whatever they want without needing to even identify themselves, much less explain why they’re doing things, like staying in federal buildings.”