Why aren’t office workers returning to Philadelphia?

“The City of Brotherly Love has a new reputation as one of the emptiest office districts in America, sparking a debate over what’s keeping Philadelphia workers at home,” Katie Mogg reports in the WSJ.

Philadelphia, like many U.S. cities, has gone full throttle on efforts to lure people back into downtown areas. But the combination of the office-worker exodus, taxes and crime has resulted in more empty office space on the market today than during the 2008 recession, theorize researchers, Philadelphia employees and real-estate professionals.

As often happens in social and economic matters, there is more than one cause. Crime is not the sole problem, but it is a major contributing factor. The article notes:

Perceptions of crime in the city may also weigh on workers’ willingness to come back downtown, said Janine Cima, director of sales for City Tap House Logan Square, a sports bar in Center City. Though customers are slowly returning, sales have yet to fully rebound, she said.

“I think that a lot of people have a fear of coming into Center City,” she said.

Why might people perceive that crime is a big problem? Because it is.

Philadelphia Police Department data shows that citywide crime is still up compared with the pre-Covid era. Violent crime so far this year, including homicides, rape, theft and assault, is up 3% compared with the same period in 2019, and property crime including theft and auto break-ins, has risen more than 65% over the same time frame.

Samir Patel, an accountant at a nonprofit in Philadelphia, said he grudgingly takes the train in from the suburb of Bensalem five days a week. Most of his colleagues are remote, he said, but his job requires him to work with physical papers in person.

“I hate it,” he said.

Why might property crime be up so dramatically? Might it be because Philadelphians elected a district attorney who subscribes to the myth that property criminals are harmless and should be treated with kid gloves? That is probably a major factor, if not the sole cause.

The consequences of crime go beyond the direct impact on the victim. Failure to consider indirect consequences is a major cause of bad policy in government generally, and that is part of the problem with soft-on-crime policies.