A group of city leaders and property owners in downtown Dallas is aiming to fight crime to make the nation's fourth-largest metropolitan area as safe as possible ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup.
Advocacy group Downtown Dallas Inc., the city of Dallas and the Dallas Citizens Council are forming a public-private partnership with members of the business community to come up with a plan to make the city safer. The partnership includes massive Fortune 500 companies such as AT&T and Jacobs and well-known real estate firms like Stream Realty Partners, Regent Properties and Matthews Southwest.
From 2019 to 2023, Dallas officials said they saw increasing crime and disorder affecting the quality of life for residents and businesses. Downtown Dallas saw a higher growth of crime — particularly violent crime — than other parts of the city.
Crimes against property, including burglary, theft and vandalism, made up 79% of reported crimes in downtown Dallas, officials said.
To help make downtown Dallas safer, an analysis from Boston Consulting Group recommended more policing, increased coordination among police and other security entities, a push to rehouse homeless individuals, expansion of the downtown community court and support for the reintegration of formerly incarcerated people.
The public-private partnership is close to finalizing a lease for a hub in downtown Dallas meant to bring some of the recommendations to fruition. Additional details, including an address, were not disclosed.
For Dallas' central business district, Jennifer Scripps, president and CEO of advocacy group Downtown Dallas Inc., said her organization is already in "serious FIFA mode" in getting the city center ready to host thousands of fans and journalists from throughout the globe. The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas will serve as the FIFA International Broadcast Center — putting the city on a global stage.
Dallas is one of the 16 host cities for FIFA World Cup 2026 matches in which 48 teams are expected to play in venues across North America. AT&T Stadium in a Dallas suburb will be the venue for some of the World Cup's main matches. Other host cities like Miami are also working to ensure public safety during the events next year.
"Work has already begun at the convention center" in downtown Dallas, Scripps said during a press conference Wednesday at the launch of the Safe in the City initiative. "We're doing this work for everybody who's already downtown, but certainly with an eye toward making these improvements" for the World Cup, she added. "It's like having a party at your house, you want to spruce it up, but you really also want all of these improvements to live far beyond the six-week tournament."
Major U.S. central business districts have been hit by an influx of crime since the pandemic emptied office buildings, leading to a broader decline of some city centers, and making it challenging to get workers back to an office, according to Brookings.
Scripps said officials in Dallas are "all hands on deck" to make the city one of the safest places in the country.
"We have not seen a major city pull together all of these resources in the way we have done," Scripps said, adding that the effort is being driven by city and business leaders. Downtown Dallas Inc. aims to raise $3 million to $5 million of private-sector funding to help launch the effort. Additional city funding is expected.
The safety initiative is expected to have a big payoff for city and business leaders as quality of life increases. Scripps said she expects a potential yield of about $4 billion in incremental property value over a five-year period. Boston Consulting Group noted the figure based on CoStar data.
"We believe that is doable," Scripps said, adding that it will be imperative in bringing in new companies and residents.