Welcome back to our “Meet the Candidates” series, where District 10 supervisor candidates respond to questions each week in 100 words or fewer. Answers will be published every Thursday.
District 10 includes neighborhoods in the city’s largest southeast sector, including Bayview-Hunters Point, Potrero Hill, Visitacion Valley, Dogpatch, Sunnydale, Portola, and others.
Each candidate is first ordered alphabetically, then rotated each week.
The San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing announced last month that it will overhaul its contracting system for homelessness nonprofits.
Mayor Daniel Lurie and Chief of Health and Human Services Kunal Modi announced in a video posted to social media on Sept. 2 that each of the nonprofits’ contracts will be replaced.
New contracts will dictate that city funding will be allocated based on “performance-based metrics” and “measurable results” — a change that, in the last few weeks, has been praised by a pro-MAGA think tank as “exactly right.”
President Donald Trump and the think tank, the Cicero Institute, have long criticized San Francisco’s approach to homelessness, blaming local leaders and liberal policies for what Trump has referred to as an uptick in homelessness.
The Trump administration has attempted to redirect federal funding away from shelters and nonprofits serving homeless residents, citing that the shelters’ priorities don’t align with the administration.
The think tank posted on X that Lurie’s new policy is “exactly what our research has advocated.”
But others have argued that the new contracting system will result in cutting services to San Francisco’s homeless population.
A large share of homelessness service providers lie in District 10, which holds the city’s highest number of homeless residents living in their vehicles.
Each of the candidates running to be elected the next supervisor of the district were asked this week whether they support Lurie’s new contracting system. Here is how they responded.
Mission Local color codes the answers to yes/no questions. A green background means the candidate answered yes, a red background means no, and a yellow background means that the candidate dodged the question.
Dion-Jay “DJ” Brookter
- Job: No current job, formerly chief executive officer at Young Community Developers
- Age: 43
- Residency: Homeowner in Candlestick Point/Little Hollywood area since 2021, moved to San Francisco in 2014
- Transportation: Driving, public transit, walking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in speech communication, Utah State University, master’s degree in business administration, University of Phoenix
- Languages: English, some Spanish
I support performance-based contracting, because public dollars should produce measurable results. However, the City must get the implementation right. Metrics should be developed collaboratively with providers and people with lived experience, while reflecting the varying needs of those they serve.
The City should provide training, technical assistance, resources, and ongoing touchpoints to identify challenges and adjust in real time. If we expect higher performance standards, we must provide funding to succeed.
We should not incentivize providers to serve only people easiest to house while penalizing those serving people with the greatest needs. Performance-based contracting should improve services — not destabilize nonprofits.
Endorsed by: Supervisor Shamann Walton, Former Mayor Willie Brown, Supervisor Connie Chan, Supervisor Myrna Melgar, Former Mayor Art Agnos, Former Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, Former Supervisor Aaron Peskin, Former Supervisor Dean Preston, Former Supervisor John Avalos, read more here.
Theo Ellington
- Job: Executive director, Ruth Williams Bayview Opera House. Policy director, Brownstein, public affairs director for the Golden State Warriors and the first director of homelessness initiatives and community development for The Salvation Army San Francisco.
- Age: 37
- Residency: Renter and former homeowner, lifelong San Franciscan and third-generation resident, born and raised in Bayview near Third and Palou streets, has lived in the Hunters Point Shipyard in District 10 since 2016
- Transportation: Driving, public transit, walking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science, Notre Dame de Namur University; master’s degree in urban affairs from the University of San Francisco.
- Languages: English
Solving our homelessness crisis requires accountability, and accountability is a two-way street. Yes, I support tying homeless service contracts to clear, measurable performance standards. Taxpayers deserve to know whether programs are working, and people experiencing homelessness deserve services that produce real outcomes.
But the City must be held accountable, too. That means paying providers on time, executing contracts faster, improving coordination between departments, reducing unnecessary administrative burdens, and providing capacity-building support, particularly for smaller community-based organizations.
We should measure results while ensuring providers have the resources and partnerships necessary to deliver them.
Endorsed by: San Francisco Democratic Party, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, State Treasurer Fiona Ma, Congressman Kevin Mullin, Former Mayor London Breed, State Senator Scott Wiener, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, Former Mayor Willie Brown, Supervisor Matt Dorsey, read more here.
J.R. Eppler
- Job: Small business attorney
- Age: 46
- Residency: Homeowner, lived in San Francisco since 2007 and Potrero Hill since 2010
- Transportation: Driving, public transit, walking, biking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, law degree from University of California, Los Angeles, MBA from University of California, Los Angeles
- Languages: English
I support performance-based metrics. City Hall should measure whether people escape homelessness, not merely how many people pass through a program, and hold both providers and itself accountable for the results. Public, outcome-based standards should focus on what matters: Long-term housing, effective services and lasting stability.
These metrics must reflect the complexity of homelessness. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution because people face different causes, conditions, and barriers. The standards should be developed with experienced providers and people who have experienced homelessness.
The goal is not just better-looking numbers. It is helping more people leave homelessness for good.
Endorsed by: Harvey Milk Democratic Club, SF League of Pissed Off Voters, United Educators of San Francisco, California Working Families Party, read more here.
This electoral season, Mission Local made the decision to only include the answers of candidates who have won a major endorsement or have publicly reported campaign contributions. That narrows down the candidates from 10 to three: Theo Ellington, Dion-Jay Brookter, and J.R. Eppler. Candidates may be added to this series if they later meet this criteria.
Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, grammar, and to meet the word limit requirement. Do you have questions you’d like to ask the candidates? Email marina@missionlocal.com.
You can register to vote here.
The sensible sounding “results based” approach to “keeping our streets clean” (quoting the mayor) is a smokescreen for defunding successful programs like PROJECT HOMELESS CONNECT—totally defunded by the city, a program begun by Mayor Newsom to help unhoused people navigate the Department for Homelessness’ maze of requirements, and offer essential services in one simple stop. Necessities like ID/DMV, legal aid, reading glasses, medical services, dental, haircuts. translation, immigration advice, job search, veterinary services, counseling, housing referrals—all with measurable, positive outcomes. No scandals, no embezzlement. And now totally defunded by the city. As reasonable as “outcomes based determinations” sounds, it is not what is happening. It is maga-like doublespeak. Why didn’t these candidates mention PHC? Or how the city defunded Urban Alchemy’s oasis in the TL that employed recently-released individuals to keep a now-vacant lot safe, clean, and filled with healthy neighborhood activity. FIFTY-EIGHT BILLIONAIRES live in SF, and we are defunded successful programs for what—to save money? To attract more businesses through yet another taxpayer-funded Stockton St renovation? This city is poised to alleviate human misery within it’s boundaries if we had moral commitment and imaginative leadership. We may claim SF is on a rebound, but letting poor people die for a deal on OpenGov software is maga-level criminal. And we will not come out of this with our souls. This same city government will soon be telling us to vote against taxing billionaires. SF, can we please agree that it’s time to call BS on billionaires? Tax them. If they leave, fine. More always come. If they live here, they should pay their fair share to fix the problems inflicted by income disparity and their shortsighted hoarding of wealth.
How are “performance based metrics” and “measurable results” remotely controversial and worthy of the commentary above ? Surely the status quo of paying admin heavy non-profits without any measure of success is much more controversial ? Why would the journalist even cite MAGA other than to make common sense sounds partisan or extreme?
“Think tanks” are sock puppets for their donors, in the case of the cicero institute it’s Joe Lonsdale who cofounded palantir and (as I recently learned) opengov. So not somebody I would want complimenting any work of mine.
That said it seems hard to come up with a reason why it’s a bad idea to base nonprofit funding on outcomes. Although that does beg the question of how the outcomes are defined and measured.
Still working on making my megabucks so I can influence public policy through my think tank the bigus dickus institute.