Hundreds Of Fed Employees In San Francisco Told To Work Remotely Because of Crime

An Early August memo from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended that the hundreds of federal workers in San Francisco should work from home because of escalating crime and safety concerns. The memo was brought to the public during the weekend, highlighting  the growing number of tenants unhappy with the worsening conditions of the area.

Since the late 2010’s, San Francisco has quickly fallen from being a tech and business haven to being one of the fastest declining cities in the country. A major rise in crime, an undermanned police department, an ongoing homeless problem, a growing drug abuse epidemic, high rent costs, a high cost of living, a huge number of tech industry layoffs, and a growing vacancy crisis have all hit the city at once, with the COVID-19 pandemic only amplifying the problem in the early 2020s.

Downtown San Francisco has been particularly hit hard. With all of the above factors, as well as others more specific to businesses like higher insurance costs, vacancies in San Francisco office buildings are currently around 33%. And while layoffs have hit the city hard, the city center has felt it the most, with most of the major layoffs in the past 10 months affecting businesses with offices there. The high crime rates and drug issues have been by far the most cited reasons for companies leaving or telling employees  to work remotely.

Through it all, however, government offices have stayed. Some, like city offices and courthouses, don’t have that much of a say in the matter, due to needing to stay in the city and have a central place for employees to work. Others, like federal departments, have more of a choice, but have nonetheless stuck it out in San Francisco. That is, until earlier this month.

According to the released memo dated August 4th, HHS Assistant Secretary for Administration Cheryl R. Campbell recommended that all department employees should “telework” for the foreseeable future due to the crime and drug problems of the area.

“In light of the conditions at the Federal Building we recommend employees maximize the use of telework for the foreseeable future,” expressed the memo.

The Federal Building, which was until recently known as the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building, sits in the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood of Downtown San Francisco, an area particularly known for the drugs trade. It has been so bad in SoMa that the area is even known to be ground zero for the ‘doom loop’ of closures and companies pulling out of the city. Experts noted to the Globe on Monday that this was likely the primary factor in the decision by the HHS to have hundreds of federal employees work remotely.

“It really is that bad in SoMa,” said Frank Ma, a former law enforcement official who now works as a security advisor for businesses in San Francisco and cities in the Peninsula. “It doesn’t surprise me that government agencies can’t take it anymore either. Tenants in general have been fed up, and even the U.S. government knows when things have gotten that bad.”

“SoMa is one of those places in the city where I have a hard time getting my employees to go to for jobs, because they just don’t feel safe going there. They can park their car in a secure lot and they still worry that it might get broken in to. It’s not the Tenderloin, but you can still see, plain as day, what is going on there. I don’t blame the Department of Health and Human Services for having federal employees work from home. You want employees to be happy and safe, and the HHS is willing absorb the high costs of offices and other expenses there against employees coming in. That speaks volumes.”

Worsening conditions in SoMa leads to remote work recommendation

However, other tenants in the Federal Building said that they would stay. The office of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, consisting of five employees, said in a statement that they would remain in the building and would not shift to remote work.

“The safety of workers in our federal buildings has always been a priority for Speaker Emerita Pelosi, whether in the building or on their commutes,” Pelosi spokesman Aaron Bennett said. “Federal, state and local law enforcement — in coordination with public health officials and stakeholders — are working hard to address the acute crises of fentanyl trafficking and related violence in certain areas of the city.”

As of Monday, other tenants are currently up in the air about whether or not they would stick with employees coming in or if they would be switching to remote work as well. For many, the decision will likely be based on how much longer the situation stays this way around the Federal Building and if things manage to get worse.

“If SoMa continues to lose smaller business that cater to the larger businesses, other agencies and departments might say that they’ll go remote too,” added Ma. “You can always tell with smaller businesses, because they’re more affected by crime or economic shifts. If this keeps up, then it is likely more will go. But also remember that it is the U.S. government. If they give a statement that they won’t be having any more agencies try and get remote work and tough it out, they’ll all follow suit.”

“This is all the continued culmination of years and years of policy changes, crime problems, and so much more. They’re making federal agencies, who are usually all in on a location for a long time, want to work remotely. If more follow, the city is going to be even more embarrassed and will probably step up efforts in SoMa. But that’s just one district too. San Francisco is in that bad a spot.”

As of Monday, no other announcements on the work from home recommendation has been made by the HHS.