In San Francisco, even neighborhoods struggling with visible poverty and public safety concerns can command eye-watering rents — a reality coming into sharper focus as America’s most powerful banker prepares to invest $200 million in the Bay Area.
The city’s Tenderloin District has long been associated with deteriorating conditions, with many retailers and residents leaving as homelessness and open drug use have become prominent features of daily street life.
A recent KRON 4 review found that the cheapest one-bedroom apartment in the worn-down neighborhood is at 245 Leavenworth Street, offering a narrow bedroom and a very small kitchen.
The pet-friendly unit is positioned in a highly walkable area, with laundry available down the block and a small grocery store across the street. It is also near three hotels and the Asian Art Museum, making it convenient for renters who depend on public transportation.
But that convenience comes with a stark tradeoff: anyone moving in would step outside to crowds of homeless people and have to navigate drug paraphernalia on the sidewalk — all while paying $2,195 a month.
A studio in the same building is listed for $1,700 and appears to offer a much larger kitchen area, along with more recent appliance upgrades.
The Tenderloin holds the lowest safety rating of any San Francisco neighborhood, according to Safemap.
Safemap also found that, despite the area’s strong walkability score, pedestrians face a high level of risk while moving through its streets.
A unit on 245 Leavenworth Street is going for $2,195 in the Tenderlion District of San Francisco. And despite being much cheaper than the average one-bedroom unit, the new resident would have to deal with a massive catch
The small apartment has plenty of natural light, but the area is rating the lowest in safety and is filled with drug addicts and homeless people
Assaults, homicide, and human trafficking are on the up in the Tenderloin District this year, compared to the same time last year, San Francisco Police Department statistics showed.
And despite the eyewatering cost and risky location, it is half the price of an average one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco, which goes for around $4,300, according to Zillow.
In a year, one-bedroom apartments have increased by more than $1,000 per year, compared to the same time last year as lofty AI jobs have driven up prices. August 2025, one-bedrooms sat around $3,150.
San Francisco is also considerably higher priced than Los Angeles, where one-bedrooms typically go for around $2,100.
JPMorgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, recently announced he would be investing $200 million into Bay Area housing and would be opening a new headquarters there.
Dimon designated the region as a new corporate center for the bank earlier this month, after pledging to fund hundreds of waterfront units in the city.
The finance exec praised the Golden City’s booming economy and the stunning comeback it has made on public safety since the initiation of Mayor Daniel Lurie in January 2025.
Speaking at the Chase Center earlier this month, Dimon said Lurie has been ‘doing all the right stuff’ as crime rates have plummeted in the downtown retail hub.
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And despite the neighborhood’s high walkability score, Safemap determined pedestrians were at a high risk while perusing the streets. Pictured: Homeless people in San Francisco in December
The sidewalks are full of homeless encampments and drug paraphernalia
Dimon also lauded Lurie’s new zoning plan, but said eyewatering rent prices are still pushing public sector workers like nurses and teachers out of the California city.
‘If you had proper [housing] supply that could be rapidly deployed, you wouldn’t have that problem,’ Dimon said. ‘I think we should raise our hand and do things that fix it.’
America’s biggest bank is helping alleviate this by investing $200million to help fund a 342-unit waterfront housing project less than a mile from Chase Center, he said.
This is part of the bank’s nationwide investment of $750billion through 2035 to help increase housing supply, including building one million affordable units.
Spiraling drug-fueled crime in San Francisco’s downtown area has prompted a mass exodus of retailers from the city in recent years, but it started making a comeback last year as police cracked down on street violence and store break-ins.
Overall, crime in the city dropped 25 percent in 2025 compared with the previous year, with violent crime decreasing by 18 percent and property crime 27 percent.
The trend continued across most crime categories this year, with one notable exception – homicides, with 16 recorded in the first six months of 2026 compared with 12 during the same period last year.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is investing $200 million into the Bay Area as he believes the area has started to clean itself up
Dimon also lauded Mayor Daniel Lurie’s new zoning plan and reducing crime, but said eyewatering rent prices are still pushing public sector workers like nurses and teachers out of the California city
San Francisco Police pushed back on the narrative that this amounted to a trending rise in murder rates, saying the incidents were isolated and could not have been tackled by violence prevention strategies, which have been increasing public safety on the whole.
Dimon appears to agree by making a major bet on the city with his latest long-term investments.
Our News Outlet has reached out to the listing agent for comment.
