But there is direct evidence that politicians are influencing corporations to alter return to office policies:
- Mayor of SF asking businesses to pledge to implement RTO policies: https://sfist.com/2022/03/03/mayor-breed-would-like-you-back...
- Mayor of NYC basically doing the same: https://archive.is/si6xd
But no evidence that this is related to property values alone or even in large part. SF is desperate to ensure the downtown does not enter a full-on doom loop which would impact all businesses as well as anyone who lives there or visits regularly. [0] Other knock-on effects include BART facing severe financial problems due to low ridership. They want people back any way they can get them so San Francisco does not end up like Detroit.
[0] https://www.wsj.com/articles/san-francisco-crime-downtown-do...
Here's another related one: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2022/02/17/new-york-c...