Safety Fears Have 'Calcified' In Center City Despite Falling Crime Rate

Center City’s postpandemic recovery is well underway, and its economic engine is nearing full force on some fronts, according to a newly released report on the district's health.

But concerns about safety in the neighborhood remain a blemish on its public image even as crime rates fall.

Part I crimes — a designation covering offenses like rape, homicide and aggravated assault — fell 10% there year-over-year in March, Center City District Vice President of Economic Development Clint Randall told Bisnow Wednesday.

Last year’s totals for the metric were also down 7% from 2019.

“This says that on a risk-adjusted basis, my children are safe in Center City,” CCD CEO Prema Katari Gupta said.

But just 61% of the 5,000 people who responded to CCD’s new customer satisfaction survey last year felt safe in the neighborhood, down from 76% in 2019, according to the group’s latest State of Center City report.

That has an impact on willingness to frequent businesses and spend time in the vicinity.

“Right after the lockdowns went into effect, there were a lot of experts who developed crisis narratives,” Gupta said. “The disruption turned into these narratives that we argue have calcified and remained despite data showing otherwise.”

Despite fears, foot traffic in Center City returned to 90% of 2019 levels last quarter. CCD counted nearly 300,000 jobs in the neighborhood, including 22,000 added year-over-year.

Greater Center City is the fastest-growing residential neighborhood in the city, with 50,000 new units and 70,000 new residents added since 1990. That’s partly due to an influx of transplants from pricier nearby markets like New York City and Washington, D.C.

But those who can’t afford housing loomed large in CCD’s analysis and in perceptions of safety, though Gupta said the city had “grown a bit of a tolerance around our fellow citizens suffering on the street.” 

Center City was home to 347 of Philadelphia’s 976 homeless people in January 2024, up from 281 a year earlier, according to a point-in-time study conducted by the municipal government.

CCD’s homeless outreach teams helped 136 people living on the street gain access to resources through its partner organizations, including Project HOME.

The city won’t be releasing updated statistics until later this year, but Gupta has an idea of what direction they are moving in.

“There has been a bit of an uptick,” she said. “That number doesn’t correlate with safety.”

The presence of people without homes is nothing new in Center City, but the well-being of the city’s chronically homeless population has degraded in recent years with the rise of fentanyl, which can leave users in a stupor, and xylazine, which can cause open sores and abscesses. 

“That drug is just really dangerous,” Bethesda Project Development and Communications Manager Alison Houghton said of the latter substance, which amplifies the effects of opioids.

Those sorts of health issues can be disturbing to commuters and tourists, said the spokesperson for the organization, which provides housing and other resources to Philadelphians in need. But the public’s aversion to that demographic sometimes comes from a place of insecurity.

“We probably just fear someone that maybe is different than us,” Houghton said. “Internally, maybe there’s fear that we’re closer to losing our homes, losing our paychecks than we are to becoming that millionaire or billionaire everyone aspires to be.”

There is no easy way to quickly house Philly’s chronically homeless people, especially since many are skeptical of the government and philanthropic programs in place to help them, she said.

“I don’t think that there’s a humane, ethical or good way to do that just for the sake of visitors’ comfort,” Houghton said.

Yet the discomfort some commuters and visitors feel in the neighborhood still carries real weight even as serious crime statistics in Center City are down.

“Your experience on the street and what your friends are talking about downtown needs to match the positive data,” Gupta said.