Jaime Roberts
Jun 1, 2023

Crime and housing prices have no correlation. Not sure why you even did this comparison.

A far better comparison is to look at hotel prices and availability rates. Compare this to pre-pandemic levels. This would be a far better indicator.

The perception of crime and homelessness in the city comes in part from locals and tourists not going into the city for previously normal activities like shopping. This leaves the streets empty for criminals and homeless.

Certain parts of San Francisco are in a death spiral of inactivity due to office and retail closure. SF is not making a comeback as other cities. The perception of crime being up is actually a lack of activity in certain areas of the city. The Jane Jacobs idea of 'eyes on the street' only works if retail stores are open.

Jaime Roberts
Jaime Roberts

Written by Jaime Roberts

Architect writing about environmental design in an age of climate change.

No responses yet