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Here’s the latest in our “Meet the Candidates” series for District 5, in which we ask each candidate to answer one question per week leading up to the election. Four candidates are challenging incumbent Supervisor Dean Preston to represent District 5, which spans from the east end of Golden Gate Park through Haight-Ashbury, Japantown and the Western Addition, the Lower Haight and Hayes Valley, and most of the Tenderloin.
Last week, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing released a report about its point-in-time homelessness count taken in January. The department conducts a count at least every two years and, since the 2022 count, the total number of people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco increased by seven percent. The count shows that unsheltered homelessness citywide decreased by one percent since 2022, and by 16 percent since 2019.
But in District 5, unsheltered homelessness decreased by more than 20 percent. Other districts saw similar improvements, while others still saw dramatic increases.
This week we asked candidates what they think about the findings: what policies and factors contributed to the decrease in homelessness in District 5, and what efforts they would continue or change as supervisor.
Note: I will be at Paris Cafe (142 McAllister St.) at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 22. Come say hi and share your thoughts about the election or District 5.
Scotty Jacobs
- Job: Marketing
- Age: 30
- Residency: Tenant in District 5 since November 2022, homeowner
- Transportation: Public bicycle
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from Washington University
- Languages: English
Despite historically large budgets to tackle homelessness, San Franciscans continue to die as a result of our failed harm reduction, housing-first policies around homelessness and the related issues of addiction and mental health.
Per the County Medical Examinerโs Accidental Overdose reports, between 2022 and 2024, there were 278 overdose deaths in the 94102 zip code alone, eclipsing the 250-person reduction in the districtโs unhoused population highlighted by the recent point-in-time report.
We need results. As supervisor, I will establish performance metrics and outcomes for nonprofits addressing homelessness; we must ensure we are investing taxpayer dollars effectively in light of … read more.
Allen Jones
- Job: Activist
- Age: 67
- Residency: Tenant in District 5 since November 2021
- Transportation: Wheelchair
- Education: Teaching Bible studies at juvenile hall
- Languages: English
Before anyone believes the HSH report, I suggest reading the SF Chronicle Opinion of August 17, 2024. If that does not convince you, spend time on Golden Gate Avenue between Jones and Taylor Streets.
As stated on my campaign website, I intend to promote living in vehicles (PROVIDED BY THE CITY). From 2009 to 2019, I lived in my pickup, which cost the city nothing. So, why is the city spending “$140,000 per year” for each spot in an RV park? With safety in mind, I can reduce the cost to less than $20,000.00 per year per designated space.
Autumn Looijen
- Job: School board recall co-founder
- Age: 46
- Residency: Tenant in District 5 since December 2020, landowner
- Transportation: Public transit
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from California Institute of Technology
- Languages: English
The point-in-time count shows a decrease in homelessness in District 5, which is fantastic. Full credit to Prop C โ housing 5,160 people, sheltering 3,928 households, and helping 22,624 families stay in their homes.
In D5, itโs more a drug crisis than a housing crisis (which is not true in all districts). It is cheap and easy to do drugs on our streets, and we attract people who want that. Letโs close the open drug markets and compel users into treatment.
(Letโs also cut red tape and build housing โ but the priority in District 5 is addressing drugs.)
Endorsed by: San Francisco police union, Marina Times, Chinese American Democratic Club.
Bilal Mahmood
- Job: Founder of private and philanthropic organizations
- Age: 37
- Residency: Tenant in District 5 since May 2023
- Transportation: Walking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, master’s degree from University of Cambridge
- Languages: English, Urdu
Unfortunately, what Iโm hearing from neighbors in the Tenderloin is that homelessness is getting worse. The PIT data is 6 months old and doesnโt tell us whatโs going on today.
Thatโs why Iโm advocating for Built for Zero, a strategy that consolidates city departments into a coordinated task force and has successfully helped 14 US cities make homelessness effectively rare and brief.
If implemented, we can use real-time data to provide personalized care to those in need, build missing shelter beds more quickly, and cut the red tape to move folks into shelter and off of waiting lists faster.
Endorsed by: Mayor London Breed, TogetherSF Action, San Francisco YIMBY, State Sen. Scott Wiener and DCCC Chair Honey Mahogany … read more.
Dean Preston
- Job: Incumbent, tenant attorney
- Age: 54
- Residency: Homeowner, in District 5 since 1996
- Transportation: Public transit
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College, juris doctor degree from University of California Law, San Francisco
- Languages: English
The latest Point-in-Time (PIT) Count reveals a remarkable 21 percent decrease in unsheltered homelessness in District 5. Hundreds of unhoused people in D5 have transitioned from living on the streets to living safely indoors.
Our work to fill vacant supportive housing units was the biggest driver of this progress. The PIT Count demonstrates the impact of new programs like Street-to-Home to fill vacancies and our right to counsel and rent relief to stop evictions.
Now is the time to double down on strategies that are working until every person living on the streets has a place to call home.
Endorsed by: Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Public Defender Mano Raju, United Educators of San Francisco, San Francisco Labor Council, San Francisco Tenants Union, National Union of Healthcare Workers … read more.
This article was updated with a response from Autumn Looijen.
The order of candidates is rotated each week. Answers are capped at 100 words, and may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at eleni@missionlocal.com.
Read all of the District 5 candidates' answers here, and the entire "Meet the Candidates" series here. Illustrations for the series by Neil Ballard.
You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.
Bilal is making things up again. The pseudoscientist will believe data that he likes and move from data to hearsay if he can get advantage that way. His answer makes it clear he’ll say anything regardless of validity or what the numbers show. He’s the same on the ever-increasing out-of-control hell-pit of violent crime that defines San Francisco. Except that the data shows SF is not that. Bilal just spews whatever is convenient for the narrative he’s hooked on. Part of the narrative he’s hooked on is Garry Tan’s “kill more than half the board” Tweet. If it weren’t, he would have made it quite clear that Tan is way more than just out of line. He would give back funds and consistently disavow a connection to NeighborsGrowingTogetherForASaferAstro-TurfRIght-WingBillionaireSF.
I hear from neighbors of Bilal that they have no idea who he is. Obviously, some neighbors probably have heard of him (or at least ridden in the elevator with him at his luxury apartment building). Or to be more detailed about the lifestyle he opted for when he chose to be a TL renter so he could feign affinity with the rest of the neighborhood, let’s just review how the marketers for 50 Jones describe it:
modern design + rich history
refined finishes + relaxing amenities
secluded oasis + central location
SFโs urban oasis lives at Jones + Market
Amongst the hustle and bustle of Mid-Market, one of San Franciscoโs hottest emerging neighborhoods, sits an oasis for everyday living. With Muni & BART out your front door and SoMa and downtown a short walk away; your day starts with convenience. When you come home, multiple relaxing designer spacesโfrom the solarium to the rooftops to the secluded courtyard Oasisโhelp you leave your worries outside. Your dreams of city living and respite come together at Jones + Market.
Candidate Bilal Mahmood: the George Santos of San Francisco.
Candidate Bilal Mahmood: funded and endorsed by Garry Tan, Michael Moritz and Elon Musk. Billionaires for Bilal. Which district will he move to next? Pac Heights?
Whereโs Autumn and why didnโt she make time to respond? Is she running a recall campaign or is she a candidate asking for our votes? The latter requires careful thought and detailed attention to nuanced policy making. I just got a piece of error rife campaign lit in my mail box wherein candidate Looijen blames the national and local fentanyl crisis on the current supervisor while conveniently ignoring the fact that the Tenderloin was gerrymandered into D5 less than 2 years ago. How could a carpet bagger from Los Altos know that? And how could a carpet bagger fathom the challenges that the TL has struggled with for decades long before todayโs nightmare of a national fentanyl crisis? Blaming the current supervisor for that is lame and weak. Equally impactful: you don’t need a genius to gleen the straight line between Breedโs senseless call to close the TL overdose prevention site and an spike in overdose deaths. All the doctors snd medical experts (along with the current D5 supervisor) warned this would happen if they closed the center. And it has. Do better Looijen or next time dont run for elected office. Stick to lobbying for private schools.
I’m guessing my response got caught in spam filters? Here it is.
The point in time count shows a decrease in homelessness in District 5, which is fantastic. Full credit to Prop C โ housing 5160 people, sheltering 3928 households, and helping 22,624 families stay in their homes.
In D5, itโs more a drug crisis than a housing crisis (which is not true in all districts). It is cheap and easy to do drugs on our streets, and we attract people who want that. Letโs close the open drug markets and compel users into treatment.
(Letโs also cut red tape and build housing โ but the priority in District 5 is addressing drugs.)
Autumn, I appreciate your honest assessment of the results of implementing a San Francisco ballot measure that passed six years ago. Specifically, you give the 2018 Proposition C (Our City, Our Homes) “full credit” for “housing 5160 people, sheltering 3928 households, and helping 22,624 families stay in their homes.” That is a powerful, albeit retrospective endorsement of an important initiative.
Given how well that proposition has worked, do you agree that those who opposed made a mistake?
SOME OF THE OPPONENTS OF PROP C:
* San Francisco Republican Party – They have endorsed you
* Mayor Breed – She has endorsed Bilal (you guys are opponents, but he has referred to you as a “colleague”)
* State Senator Scott Wiener – He has endorsed Bilal
* SPUR
SOME OF THE SUPPORTERS OF PROP C:
* Affordable Housing Alliance – They have endorsed Dean, the incumbent supervisor you and Bilal are running against because he is “bad” on housing
* Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods
Mental Health Association of San Francisco
* United Educators of San Francisco – They have endorsed Dean, the incumbent supervisor you and Bilal are running against because he is “bad” on housing
* Chinatown Community Development Center
* GLIDE Foundation
* Harvey Milk Democratic Club – They have endorsed Dean, the incumbent supervisor you and Bilal are running against because he is “bad” on housing
* San Francisco Tenants Union – They have endorsed Dean, the incumbent supervisor you and Bilal are running against because he is “bad” on housing
* SEIU 1021 – They have endorsed Dean, the incumbent supervisor you and Bilal are running against because he is “bad” on housing
* Coalition on Homelessness
* Democratic Socialists of America SF – They have endorsed Dean, the incumbent supervisor you and Bilal are running against because he is “bad” on housing
SPUR ended up in the wrong section. They supported Prop C (Our City Our Homes), but not “Baby Prop C” (June 2018) Commercial Rent Tax for Child Care and Early Education.
Autumn, how is your plan for NOT building housing on Parcel K going to help build housing. And of course district lines are highly artificial – especially because of Gerrymandering. But don’t worry, there are lots of “druggies” in other districts, it’s just that for example those in Pacific Heights have indoor space for using. You should watch the cars pull up to various street dealers in the “less glamourous” neighborhoods. You’ll recognize that the Maserati driver white guy in a suit probably lives somewhere else. Drug tourism or whatever it’s called from Pac Heights is real, but we only blame the same people we’ve always blamed.
Weโve been waiting for 100% affordable housing to be built on Parcel K for 20 years now. At a recent โfireside chatโ, los Altos Looijen indicated she does not support development or building on Parcel K. Candidate Mahmood has indicated he does not support building there either. What happened to โcutting the red tapeโ and โstreamliningโ for Parcel K?
It is more than YIMBY hypocrisy.
The “new Hayes Valley” belongs to the wealthy. I mean, God didn’t cause the 1989 earthquake and ruin the freeway that was built through an African American community a generation earlier only to see working-class people return to the newly fashioned Elysian Fields intended for the “chosen.”
Jenn Laska and her clones called up Bilal and Autumn … and they answered the phone. “Yes, Jenn. We agree with you. Those $15 salads we eat in Hayes Valley obviously won’t get eaten by working-class families. They shouldn’t live where they can’t afford to eat. I mean, they can live in Antioch or Hayward or even cram themselves into a studio apartment somewhere in San Francisco (but not in HV) so those old enough to work can come to HV to wash dishes, chop lettuce, scrub toilets, and even pick up trash from the street (since Vallie Brown doesn’t do that anymore – she’s trying to keep her pink blazer shiny for Bilal photo-ops).
The reason that Hayes Valleyians are YIMBY’s is because they don’t have backyards. So, Yes In My Back Yard is easy to say something like that when it doesn’t apply. What they do have is a parking lot (and even a whole valley). They might call themselves YIMBYs, but they are most definitely NIOPLs ) Not In Our Parking Lot).
While I give Autumn Looijen credit for offering a belated response here, it must be said: if she lived in D5 long enough to know better, she would actually thank and give credit to Supervisor Dean Preston for his tireless efforts to prevent evictions and keep low income elders, workers and their families in their homes during the COVID pandemic when the world shut down and when people couldnโt work or pay their rent. During this period, Preston amended his COVID anti eviction protections 16 times to insure there wasnโt an eviction tsunami. During COVID lockdown when the CDC required that all congregate shelters shut down and homeless people were forced onto the streets with nowhere to go, Dean Preston spearheaded the move to get unhoused people into hotel rooms at The Oasis Hotel, which was closed because of the global pandemic. When the Mayor and elected leaders failed to take urgent action, Preston donated $10,000 of his own money and started a GOFundMe that raised $60,000 for hotel rooms for homeless families and elders during lockdown. One wonders what, if anything, Looijen did to help her unhoused Los Altos neighbors during the pandemic nightmare.
Ever notice that all three of the carpet bagger candidates (Mahmood, Looijen and Jacobs) use the exact same Astroturf talking points and code words? โCut the red tape.โ โStreamline.โ โCommon sense.โ โSafe and clean.โ โResults.โ Why is that? Could it be because their Tech and real estate overlords (looking at you Chris Larsen, Bill Oberndorf, Scary Garry โdie slowโ Tan and Michael Moritz) control the messaging? Itโs simple: any candidate funded/supported by the afore mentioned billionaire goons or Elon Musk & Co. is a hard pass.
Wait. Hold up. Is Scotty โparty zoneโ Jacobs running for Prom King or Supervisor? We canโt tell. Still unclear what he means by โLetโs Ride!โ Letโs ride (and fund) public transit? Odd too that when asked about the actual district by district data from the PIT census, scotty pivots to county stats. Why not just answer the question? If Jacobs had lived in D5 longer than a few months, he might have a better grasp of our challenges and issues here. Candidate Jacobs doesnโt (and cannot) provide a D5 specific response because his knowledge is only skin deep; heโs an ideologue and generalist who has no nuanced knowledge of D5โs consistent challenges. You cannot 5150 your way out of this my dude, and recommending that we call ICE in a sanctuary city is clueless. Read the room Scotty.
If ever there was an urgent need for a neuroscientist specializing in the impacts of addiction to a monster drug like fentanyl on the human brain, this is it. Too bad candidate Bilal Mahmood was only a fake neutoscirntist in hid campaign lit and in tv ads.