Photo: Moment RF
Houston continues to deal with huge amounts of vacant commercial real estate. According to a new study, it's costing building owners around $1.55 billion. Many workers just never came back to the office after the COVID-19 pandemic.
KTRH's Michael Berry addressed this issue on yesterday morning's edition of "The Michael Berry Show." He said, "When COVID happened, we had a cultural transformation. The idea became acceptable that you don't have to go into the office."
He then pointed out that this has continued to become more popular, even with older workers who had spent their entire careers working in offices. He said, "It's not just lazy kids. There are a lot of people who suddenly realized, 'You know what, I don't have to go into the office.'"
On top of that, rising crime and homelessness in the downtown area mean that people feel safer working from home. Berry said, "It's hard to get people to come back into downtown right now. The downtown area is a very bad problem, and it becomes much worse at night when these individuals come out."
The icing on the cake here is that companies have realized they can save huge amounts of money by reducing the amount of office space they use. He pointed out that for years, companies have had to ensure there's enough office space for all their employees, and with remote workers, they can downsize quite a bit.