Putting Assets to Work: Unlocking Value from Publicly-Owned Real Estate

An Urban Wealth Fund is a mechanism for creating ongoing revenue streams from underutilized public sector assets without privatizing the asset. The goal is to create new revenue streams to address our most persistent challenges, such as affordable housing, climate resiliency, and reinvigorating our cities’ infrastructure. Over the last year, GFOA’s “Putting Assets to Work” policy incubator, worked alongside six local governments to assess opportunities and develop policy tools to adapt the “Urban Wealth Fund” concepts common in European and Asian cities for GFOA members. Participants in the incubator will share their experiences and highlight exciting new opportunities for local governments to derive greater value from their assets. We’ll also discuss how your government can get involved in the next incubator as we build on the successes of our first participants.