Many U.S. cities were enjoying strong growth in the years leading up to the pandemic, with rents, hotel bookings, sale prices and tax collections rising as urban centers became popular with young workers and the businesses that wanted to hire them.
Those good times ended in March 2020, when much of the country went into lockdown mode. By the end of that year, many cities were forced to furlough large portions of their workforces and cut programs as tax revenues from sources such as retail sales, hotels and property shrank. Now, city leaders are looking for new and innovative ways to bolster their budgets and restore financial health longer term.
