The "Return to Office" push is important to understand. Why are those in power requesting workers to commute to a building to do the same work they could be doing from the comfort of their homes?
Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a professor at Columbia University coined this phrase in 2022. In simple terms, it works like this:
- After workers leave the office and adapt to working remotely, companies downsize, and commercial office buildings sit empty in urban centers.
- Office building owners must refinance or sell due to lack of demand for their commercial property.
- Lower property values lead to lower property tax, and City budgets go into the negative.
- Law enforcement suffers, homeless move in, residents move to the suburbs, the urban landscape changes and becomes ugly.