San Francisco has apparently experienced the worst post-pandemic recovery of any major U.S. city amid a plague of crime and homelessness — two issues Dallas is currently grappling with.
Downtown San Francisco, in particular, is bleeding, at least according to the “Downtown Recovery Rankings” published by the University of Toronto’s School of Cities. The study compared the downtown foot traffic in 63 North American cities before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. San Francisco was ranked last.
Between March and May of this year, the city only had 32% of the foot traffic it saw during the same period in 2019, with unabated crime, homelessness, and vagrancy being blamed for the city’s failure to recover.
“San Francisco has been a real problem child when [it] comes to post-COVID downtown recovery,” said real estate advisor Susan Thompson, per the California Globe. “A lot of companies that were in San Francisco now have offices either outside the city or offer remote work. For the ones who remain, there are fewer businesses there catering to them.”
“They have to contend with crime. Employees don’t feel safe, especially with the homeless problem in the city. … The city keeps trying all these incentive programs, but they aren’t tackling the main issues. … [A]nd security isn’t exactly the best,” Thompson said.
The recovery analysis did not include Downtown Dallas. However, it did note that Fort Worth’s downtown area has only returned to 69% of its pre-pandemic activity levels.
Meanwhile, Downtown Dallas continues to wrestle with some of the same problems faced by San Francisco and many cities across the United States — crime and homelessness.
A recent satisfaction survey commissioned by the City of Dallas found that 61% of Dallas residents consider crime a “major” problem in the city, while 75% said the same about homelessness.
Crime rates in Downtown Dallas are notably higher compared to Fort Worth’s downtown area, which is patrolled by a dedicated police unit and private security guards.
The Dallas Police Department is also facing a shortage of about 900 officers, according to a City analysis that recommends about three officers for every 1,000 residents, putting an ideal staffing level for Dallas at approximately 4,000.
To combat homelessness and vagrancy, the City of Dallas has tried various strategies. Still, it has yet to employ the “one-stop-shop” model that has reportedly proven successful in San Antonio.
Through its partnership with the City of San Antonio, Haven for Hope offers emergency housing to the city’s homeless population in conjunction with an array of support services, all on a single campus. The approach has polled favorably among Dallas voters.