Shinsekai/Tennoji safety

Hi,
I saw Toyoko Inn chain is to open a new hotel in Shin Sekai in Osaka. However I have heard reputation of Shin Sekai, as well as Tennoji to be unsafe/dodgy after dark.

I know the area south of Shin Imamiya is to be avoided but not sure about the earlier mentioned.

Is there any truth in this?

Stayed a night with 2 gals in Tennoji area. The station area (department stores) and hotel area had no issues with safety. I did not sense any danger. I did not venture out of these areas and I do not see why you should either.

I have stayed in Shin Imamiya area on at least 4 occasions and have walked to Kintetsu Abenobashi station in the early hours of the morning as well as late at night. I am an Asian, but at no time did I feel unsafe. There are some homeless people who sleeps along the side walks, but they did not accost me.
I have no qualms about staying in that area again, but it depends on your personal preferences. There are a lot of cheap hotels here, their standards of cleanliness would not be comparable to Toyoko, but they are cheap.

I stayed at Tennoji Toyoko inn twice last November, did not find the area "unsafe".
Seeing Abeno Harukas would easily convince you that it is not a slump: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4026.html
I have never visited Shinsekai, again never heard that the place is a "no-go-zone"
I have heard Kamagasaki near Shin Imamiya station is a "Forgotten Ghetto" for the homeless. This could be a place you want to avoid.

"...it is not a slump:"
The word is S L U M, not slump.

THanks for the replies!

I was mostly thinking of the area west of Tennoji, or at least, west of the zoo.

Maybe I should not have mentioned Tennoji from the start.

I stayed in quite a budget hotel near Shin-Imamiya once several years ago, but I also remember walking near the station just a few years ago and did not feel very comfy... But that's Shin-Imamiya, I think the south of there is worse. but I don't know about the north (ie. Shin-Sekai, Tsutentaku...)

there are two slums in Japan, Sanya in Tokyo and Kamagasaki in Osaka.
kamagasaki, now called as Airin area, is the same place to the south side of Shin-Imamiya area.
according to your standard, all areas of Japan is safe. But, local people, who know the past, do not want to stay those areas.
hotels in Shin-Imamiya are renovated ones which were called as 簡易宿泊所, day-paying inns for day-payed workers.

I am a female in my mid-twenties, and I stayed in both Shin-Imamiya (didn't know its reputation) and Tennoji last year, within 5 minutes walk of the JR stations. I felt a lot safer in Tennoji (in fact, I saw no indication of it being a 'bad' area), but I did feel a bit wary in Shin-Imamiya, but I only went out at night to buy dinner and was not bothered by anyone except a lovely older gentleman who asked where I was from. I stayed alone in Shin-Imamiya for one night, and then with a female friend in Tennoji for two nights.