IDA research is critical to better understand the value of the urban place management industry and is fast becoming a vital benefit for members, developing insights for best practices and establishing a specific body of knowledge for the industry. Reliable information and relevant industry intelligence are critical for a growing profession seeing the dire impacts of a global pandemic. The new COVID-19 Impacts on the Urban Place Management Industry report provides needed insights on how IDA members are affected by and responding to the current conditions.
The IDA research team connected with 244 member organizations for our benchmarking survey in the second and third quarter of last year. Inquiry into COVID-19 impact was a focal point of the survey, tracking how our communities and organizations were faring and to provide broad-based comparative analysis. The report consists of two sections: the first focused on the impact of the pandemic on members districts and the second on the impact to the organization itself. Overall, IDA members are optimistic about the long-term prospects of their districts with varied expectations for vacancy rates and pace of recovery in the years ahead.
If one thing is clear, it is that managed districts have been at the forefront of economic recovery and urban wellbeing since day one, and their work has not gone unnoticed. Overwhelmingly, IDA members have never been better positioned. Virtually all organizations report having earned greater stakeholder trust as more people became aware of the valuable services the district provided. IDA members solidified their position as a trusted source of information in their community, played a vital role in clean and safe environments and advocated for relief for their businesses.
This report is just the first of future data releases from our benchmarking survey, which will provide further information on the state of our industry. I want to extend a special thank you to all who participated in this comprehensive survey and my appreciation to the IDA research team for their dedication in service to our members. We all hope you will gain new insights using this report.