<p>The current paper features the solution of the problem of the controlled impact on the development of the single-industry economy at the expense of small business by using specialized management methods. The article examines the current situation in the monodependent cities of Russia and the existing approaches to solving their social and economic problems. The authors of the study propose their approach to solving social and economic problems in single-industry towns. This approach is based on the use of a group of strategies for managing the city’s mesofactors and microindicators of urban small businesses operating. The article describes each group of strategies from the position of the city administration and from the side of business. In their previous studies, the authors proved the existence of a significant correlation between the socioeconomic performance of a single-industry city and the aggregated economic indicators of small business. The study was carried out on the basis of an analysis of the statistical indicators of more than 400 small companies in the monotown of Yurga in 2007 – 2016. The article gives relevant conclusions about the possibility of applying the above-described strategies both on the scale of the monotown and on the individual branches of the urban economy.</p>