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.
San Francisco has a new mandate from the state of California to build 82,000 new homes by 2031, with more than half of those to be affordable to low- and moderate-income households.
We’re not on track to meet this goal, and one of the big arguments in San Francisco’s housing debate, particularly as campaigning heats up in District 5, has been over who is to blame for our slow housing development.
Much of the problem is systemic: We have some of the lengthiest timelines and processes for getting housing projects built. But the supervisor candidates say there’s more to it.
This week, we asked candidates: What do you find problematic with our housing development, and how will you improve or speed up the process?
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
The animosity between Dean Preston and Mayor Breed makes housing development in SF/District 5 more challenging or impossible. That said, I support Mayor Breed and, despite my disagreements with her administration, I eschew animus in politics.
I am 100 percent opposed to the development of Parcel K. But I will support ANY development in San Francisco. The 20-year “Promise” to develop the site is past its shelf life. As a lemons-to-lemonade story due to the pandemic, PROXY helped D5 in a time of need. Development of this parcel would be a slap in the face to creativity during a crisis.
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
First, we should legalize co-housing. Century-old laws say, at most, five unrelated people can share a unit. This means bedrooms that could be housing people are kept off the market. This is a quick fix for in-demand housing.
But the most problematic thing about building housing in District 5 is the “shadow code” — the unwritten, often surprising reasons code-compliant projects are turned down repeatedly … for 33 months, on average.
We should write down the shadow code, including everything we do to preserve the beauty of our neighborhoods, to make sure everyone knows the rules. Then make the process clear and quick.
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
There’s too much red tape that makes it nearly impossible to build affordable or middle income housing, driving up rent. I wrote the SF Chronicle story explaining why we are the slowest city to approve new buildings in California.
That’s not progressive; it’s embarrassing.
We must tackle government bureaucracy to build housing faster. I will advocate for initiatives that accelerate our permitting process — investments in technology to speed up application approvals, allowing parallel permitting and approvals, and reducing discretionary permits to effectively cut the time to build affordable housing in half.
When there’s less obstacles, we build more homes affordably.
*Note: The linked San Francisco Chronicle story is an Open Forum opinion piece.
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 biggest barrier to housing development in District 5 has been an obstructionist administration that has delayed affordable housing projects (Parcel K, 400 Divisadero) and refused to scale up affordable housing construction voters demanded (2020 Props I, K). We need a mayor interested in working together to create the housing people need, rather than playing politics.
Despite this dynamic, we’ve raised hundreds of millions for affordable housing, funded land trusts, and won affordable housing at 730 Stanyan, DMV lot, 650 Divisadero, 180 Jones, the Kelsey, and other sites. I’ve voted for 30,000 homes, 86 percent affordable. More info at deanshousingrecord.com.
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.
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
It’s extremely problematic that it takes so long to build housing.
…
Nobody can credibly claim to be a champion for renters in one breath, and then block high-quality housing because of an ideological insistence on 100 percent affordable units in another. Nobody can credibly claim to be a YIMBY and also support Prop 33.
To build more housing, we must:
- Implement parallel permitting
- Significantly limit public comment and discretionary review for zoning-compliant projects
- Upzone and ease height restrictions in Density Corridors
- Create transfer tax incentives at the point of acquisition and disposition of an asset
- Defeat Prop. 33 in this election
Endorsed by: Mark Farrell, Marina Times, Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, Raoul Wallenberg Jewish Democratic Club, Connected SF, and UA Local 38.
This article was updated with a response from Scotty Jacobs.
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.
Dean came with receipts! It’s a joke for Preston’s challengers to be talking about speeding up housing when none of them even support building housing on Parcel K in Hayes Valley, a site the City already owns and that has been slated for housing for years. You can’t talk about speeding up the approval process and then oppose funding housing in the first place. Zero homes minus red tape still equals zero homes. There’s only one candidate in this race serious about building housing equal to San Francisco’s needs and that’s Dean Preston.
Btw, Dean Preston’s also the only reason 730 Stanyan, site of the old McDonald’s, is being built up to 8 stories as opposed to lopping off two stories in advance to placate the NIMBYs, as Mayor Breed originally proposed. 40 more households will soon get to live by the park because he took this stance. https://deanpreston.medium.com/eight-in-the-haight-maximizing-affordable-housing-at-730-stanyan-10df935a631c
This all sounds like what candidates say during an election. I don’t believe any of them because none of them have a proven record of creating affordable housing or funding affordable housing projects that were actually built (especially Mahmood) except Preston. While I’ve never been a fan, he is the best option solely because of his institutional knowledge and existing connections within the community. The billionaire-funded PACs see him as a threat but they underestimate the intelligence of SF voters, especially in D5.
Not a big fan of the revisionist history coming out of the Preston campaign. Back when I started following SF housing politics in the late 2010s, Preston was a huge opponent building any housing that wasn’t 100% affordable. The most egregious ones:
Voting against building hundreds of housing units at 495 Stevenson, a site that remains a valet parking lot.
Organizing and leading the “Affordable Divisadero” group which opposed upzoning in D5 and opposed the original project at the touchless car wash site.
Opposing SB 35, a bill that since passed has sped up construction of thousands of affordable housing units, including in D5.
It’d be one thing if Preston owned up to being a NIMBY in the past and was open to evolving his position in a genuine way. But his approach of denying the facts from the past and lashing out at honest criticism of his housing record really rubs me the wrong way.
Affordable Divis was concerned about Mayor Breed’s upzoning because she gave it away for nothing: no requirement for an increased amount of affordable housing. The mayor will go on and on about growing up poor in public housing but she absolutely refuses to move that narrative beyond just herself. There are far too many severely rent-burdened households in San Francisco for a “Democrat” mayor to just give developers whatever they want and let them build $2,000 per square foot units.
Not everyone in San Francisco can just move into a luxury building so they can call themselves a renter. That’s a reference to Bilal, in case you missed it.
Exactly, the YIMBY movement is a coalition of willing suckers.
Secretly THEY DO KNOW that yuppie condo towers do absolutely nothing good for the homeless or housing crises, either one, which are felt exclusively by the lower and middle classes. Not the naive transplant techno-yuppie sellout class that dominates SF of late.
Please don’t put words in the mouths of others. I have a strong belief – backed up by nearly every study on this subject – that building more housing reduces housing prices. Blocking housing production is a huge handout to landlords, who get to then jack up rent while renters compete over a reduced quantity of housing. That is essentially the story of SF gentrification over the last few decades – neighborhoods with essentially 0 new housing built have seen rent go up over 10x.
I have voted for and will vote for any bond/proposition that would increase my taxes to fund more affordable housing. But we would need trillions of increased tax dollars to build enough subsidized housing for everyone needing it in CA. Absent that, it doesn’t make sense to be blocking mixed income housing on the dream of it eventually becoming 100% subsidized housing.
Candidates Bilal Mahmood, Autumn Looijen, and Allen Jones all oppose building affordable housing on Parcel K. The city has owned that nugget for over 20 years. In 1999, the voters approved funding for the development and construction of affordable housing there. Recently, Preston sourced funds for development of the site. Mayor London Breed said she supported development of affordable housing there and then pulled the plug. Why? Because her privileged donors and pals like Jen Laska (former employee of GROWSF) were gatekeeping their gentrified neighborhood. Jen Laska is making campaign ads for candidate Bilal Mahmood. Hypocrisy. Privilege. Lies.
ANY CANDIDATE taking dark money / Real-estate developer money should have a MASSIVE ASTERISK superimposed over their faces whenever they say anything on the topic of the housing crisis, redevelopment, selling our parks to “entertainment groups”, rezoning of long-standing neighborhoods, or anything else related to what that Billionaire dark money was donated to accomplish in the first place.
Or did we really think politicians did these things out of conscience? “London Breed really, really cares about the homeless and the environment, right guys? I sure believed it when Ed Lee said it, Newsom too.”
No surprise here: Landlord and candidate Scotty party zone Jacobs STRONGLY OPPOSES the Justice for Tenants (Prop 33) legislation to repeal draconian Costa Hawkins. That’s ironic especially because D5 is a +90% tenant district. Shouldn’t Scotty be running in Mark Farrell’s former district and homeland of Pac Heights?
………not only does candidate Scotty party zone Jacobs STRONGLY OPPOSE the CA state Justice for Tenants legislation (Prop33), he says above “it must be defeated”…….in D5, a +90% tenant populated district.
Oh hey candidates…….please explain: Scotty from Marin (who is running-for-prom-king) Jacobs, Bilal not a neuroscientist nor an economist Mahmood, and Los Altos Autumn Looijen…….why NONE of you supports or is working with our D5 communities toward the construction of affordable/low income housing in D5. You claim to care and live among us but where the hell have you been until one year ago? NONE of you carpetbaggers EVER ONCE STATES how you will go about building dense affordable housing in D5 as you try to torpedo the current supervisor. D5 CALLS BULLSHIT. We live here……have for years…… Ya’ll just popped into our community to hawk campaign merch hoodies and to lecture us on what you think we got wrong. D5 deserves better. At the recent League of Women Voters and HANC candidate forums, you were asked but sadly, none of you offered specifics for building more affordable housing in D5. Move back to Marin, Palo Alto, Los altos. If you were actually serious about helping D5, you’d focus on how to build deeply affordable, low income housing in our district. There lies the need.
Dishonest candidate Bilal Mahmood and his billionaire funders at TogetherSF and toxic Garry Tan’s GROWSF are spending thousands of dollars on false billboards. They claim Bilal will “fix” everything from the fentanyl crisis to crime to housing. Mahmood has campaigned heavily on his lies about being a neuroscientist and an economist; he only retracted those lies when called out by real neuroscientists and economists. Now Bilal is lying about and misrepresenting the current supervisor’s record. It’s really too bad that a carpet bagger like Mahmood has to stoop to dirty politics, campaign tricks and lies as the only way to win the election. Local D5 residents know our district’s and our supervisor’s record. It is time for results Bilal. Tell the voters what you would do to solve out district’s and San Francisco’s challenges. D5 residents deserve better than negative campaigning and lies. Quit it.