https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources & Events
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
  • Resources/Events
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers/eBooks
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
  • Magazine
acc.com

Administration


Pixabay

News

Report: Urban Wealth Funds allow cities to commercially capitalize on their assets for the public’s benefit

Report: Urban Wealth Funds allow cities to commercially capitalize on their assets for the public’s benefit

  • Written by Andy Castillo
  • 28th September 2021

Subways don’t have to exclusively transport commuters; parking lots can provide space for a lot more than cars; buildings can house services alongside town offices. Responsible commercialization and management of public assets can offset operating costs, reducing a municipality’s reliance on taxation and opening revenue for additional infrastructure investments. 

In analyzing Boston’s publicly held real estate, for example, a report from the Government Finance Officers Association found that publicly owned properties hold potential as “a major source of revenue for the city.” The report highlights how the city’s real estate could be monetized through an Urban Wealth Fund (UWF), a unified professional investment fund that is set up to manage public assets in the commercial space for the community’s betterment. 

Practically, Urban Wealth Funds operate like private firms, the report notes, developing and managing publicly owned assets like parking lots or vacant land and retrofitting outdated buildings for modern use. Under the oversight of an Urban Wealth Fund, municipal buildings with unused space in them could be converted for mixed usage, housing civic departments along with residential units, commercial offices and schools. 

“Through a mix of tenants, the UWF would generate a diversified revenue stream that could be used to invest in the maintenance of the water system or airport, as an example. Such a comprehensive approach would not only improve the quality of services from publicly owned utilities and transportation systems but also create a more sustainable environment for the benefit of society,” the report says. 

They have potential for cities because governments aren’t designed to manage commercial risk. While being insulated from political instability, an urban wealth fund is able to hire and manage professional property managers and compete with private sector firms, the report says.  

“We have looked at cities all over the country. When you do the math, it is easy to see that urban areas all over the United States are sitting on a ‘gold mine’ of resources—their real estate—that is not used as efficiently as it could be,” said Joe Minicozzi, an urban planning consultant who helped put together the report. “If professionally managed, these assets could be a great supplement to tax revenues.” 

In Europe and Asia, the report notes UWFs have been successfully implemented in several notable cities including Copenhagen, Sweden and the city-state Singapore, which, “with the help of a UWF … has supplied public housing to 85 percent of its population,” the report continues. 

Notably in 2018, then-mayor of Salt Lake County, Ben McAdams, commissioned an analysis of publicly owned land throughout the region’s nearly two-dozen cities and towns. Much of the land was clustered around the subway system in small plots. Because of the proximity to the transit system, its estimated value was pegged at $13.5 billion.  

Under the management of a UWF, “Development in these areas could house about 58,000 people and create 39,000 new employment opportunities,” the report says. 

This kind of public-private management structure doesn’t yet commonly exist in the United States for a few reasons. For one, public perception of what government should be like has historically drawn a hard line between the public and private sectors—an organization should either be owned by the public or privatized for monetary gain. 

“A UWF is a different approach where the assets are owned by the government but with a professional management team in place, using private sector techniques,” the report explains. “It is seperated from politics by a ‘holding company’ at an arm’s length distance to ensure a comprehensive commercial mindset of all assets within the portfolio.”  

Further, public assets are owned by a fragmentation of government agencies, making commerical management of them difficult. A UWF could bring them all under one umbrella. And because so much of public land was acquired a long time ago at a fraction of today’s cost, fair market value hasn’t historically been considered. 

“Low values or often no value at all attached to an asset will not incentivize investments, maintenance, or even professional management,” the report continues. “For example, there have been cases where local governments have operated garages or vehicle yards on waterfront property because these facilities were built when the land was worth much less.”  

A UWF could tastefully develop that land, considering fair market value and making it more attractive for everyone while simultaneously creating new revenue streams for the city. 

For cities interested in considering creatign a UWF, the Government Finance Officers Association recommends taking the following steps: Take complete inventory of publicly owned land and project potential market value of it. Explore basic development scenerios and estimate revenue impact.

Tags: homepage-featured-3 homepage-featured-4 Administration Economy Administration Economy News

Most Recent


  • public sector
    Generational differences present an opportunity to reinvent public sector service delivery
    As major technology companies have transformed the ideal customer experience into instantaneous “one-click” services, the public sector has been challenged to keep pace. As a result, government organizations must meet the changing expectations of Americans with faster, simpler, 24/7 services. Government is ingrained in the fabric of our lives, including the water we drink, the […]
  • Report: Local and state governments are facing a retention crisis; the worst could be yet to come
    When the pandemic struck in 2020, public retention was hit hard: jobs in local government plummeted by 8.5 percent; state employment dropped by 4.4 percent. Two years later, local and state government jobs have rebounded by about half—to 4.1 and 1.9 percent below pre-pandemic levels respectively, according to a new report from Mission Square Research […]
  • Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
    Infrastructure highlighted by city leaders as top priority in analysis of 60 mayoral addresses
    After two years of ping-pong lockdown orders, mask mandates, unprecedented vaccine drives and economic uncertainty, cities across the United States are beginning to emerge in the pandemic’s aftermath, and they’re prioritizing infrastructure, according to a report published Wednesday by the National League of Cities (NLC).  “The new normal, as we now understand it, is here,” […]
  • employees
    Oklahoma City puts the focus on employees when implementing changes in office technology
    The City of Oklahoma City (OKC) is no stranger to growing pains. Like so many cities and local governments facing budget, resource and time constraints, the fastest-growing city in Oklahoma has, at times, had to do more with less. But despite this, we’ve remained committed to advancing our city forward and putting our 5,000+ employees […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Study: Densely populated city centers associated with lower rates of depression
  • Community EngAGEment: University, nonprofit and municipal partnerships emerging from the pandemic
  • A city’s innovative downtown master plan sees future in local, inclusive placemaking
  • Pension funding is down over the last decade, but has held steady through the pandemic

White papers


How to Assemble a Rockstar Website Redesign Steering Committee

7th June 2022

Hand Hygiene: Compliance Matters

23rd May 2022

What it Takes to Build a Winning Esports Program

23rd May 2022
view all

Events


PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

Seamless Cooperative Experience Saves Indiana City Exponentially in Time and Money dlvr.it/SSxp95

27th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

10 best large cities for fishing dlvr.it/SSxbSZ

27th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Generational differences present an opportunity to reinvent public sector service delivery dlvr.it/SSxbN7

27th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Report: Local and state governments are facing a retention crisis; the worst could be yet to come dlvr.it/SSnmS7

24th June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Amid an unprecedented increase in federal spending, cities and counties stand to benefit from partnerships dlvr.it/SSkGBn

23rd June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Governments using technology to harness data and improve decision-making dlvr.it/SSk3H0

23rd June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Infrastructure highlighted by city leaders as top priority in analysis of 60 mayoral addresses dlvr.it/SSgBck

22nd June 2022
AmerCityCounty

Oklahoma City puts the focus on employees when implementing changes in office technology dlvr.it/SSfyns

22nd June 2022

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X