Welcome back to our โMeet the Candidatesโ series, where District 8 supervisor candidates respond to a question in 100 words or fewer. Answers are published every Wednesday.
To see what candidates said previously on topics like housing and street conditions, read their answers here.
District 8 includes neighborhoods in the center of the city, including the Castro, Noe Valley, Glen Park, Twin Peaks, Duboce Triangle, Dolores Heights, Parnassus Heights, Ashbury Heights, Corona Heights and Diamond Heights.
For many renters, San Franciscoโs rent-control policy is a lifeline. The policy, which limits rent increases to around 2 percent most years, allows their rents to stay affordable even as new renters pay skyrocketing amounts.
But not all renters have rent control. San Franciscoโs ordinance only applies to buildings first occupied before June 1979, meaning that renters in newer buildings can be subject to much steeper increases. And when a tenant moves out from a rent-controlled unit, a landlord can raise the rent to market value.
State law gives some protections to residents in newer buildings. In apartments built after 1979 but more than 15 years ago, rent can only be raised by 5 percent plus inflation annually.
Critics argue that rent control can backfire, driving up rents in non-controlled buildings and encouraging landlords to pull units out of the rental market. And if it were to be applied to new buildings too soon, they say, it could discourage new housing development.
San Francisco cannot expand its current rent control policy due to state law โ the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Act prohibits local jurisdictions from enacting or expanding rent control. Repealing Costa-Hawkins has long been the white whale of tenant advocates, though a 2024 effort to do so, Prop. 33, failed 60-40.
This weekโs question: If state law allowed it, would you support expanding rent control in San Francisco? What type of expansion would you support?
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.
Michael Nguyen
- Job: Patent attorney
- Age: 44
- Residency: Renter, has lived in District 8 since 2006
- Transportation: Driving, public transit and walking
- Education: Bachelorโs degree from Southwestern University, law degree from University of California Law, San Francisco
- Languages: English, some Spanish, some Vietnamese
Yes. If state law allowed it, I would support expanding San Franciscoโs rent control. Eviction notices are up 44% citywide this year compared to last year, and itโs unacceptable.
In 2024, the Board passed then-Supervisor Peskinโs proposal to extend protections to buildings first occupied before 1994, which would have added roughly 16,000 homes and protected about 40,000 renters; I support his original proposal, which covered all post-1979 buildings and could have reached roughly 100,000 renters.
I support repealing Costa-Hawkins so San Francisco can set these protections locally. We have to stop San Franciscans being priced out.
Endorsed by: GLBTQ+ Asian Pacific Alliance, Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club (#2), San Francisco Green Party, former supervisor Dean Preston, Working Families Party, UESF โฆ see more here.
Darshini Patel
- Job: Former DoorDash employee, worked on the 2012 Obama campaign and the 2024 Harris campaign, former Obama staffer
- Age: 38
- Residency: Homeowner, has lived in District 8 for 10 cumulative years since 2010
- Transportation: Public transit, walking and biking
- Education: Bachelorโs degree from Wellesley College
- Languages: Gujarati, English
Yes, with safeguards that protect tenants without undermining new housing construction. Rent control helps people stay in their homes, but it doesn’t make housing more affordable for new people moving here. Plus, if poorly designed, it can discourage building the homes we desperately need.
A teacher should be able to affordably live in the district where they teach. That requires more than rent control: we need to protect existing tenants, build more homes, and invest in permanently affordable housing, including social housing, where rents reflect costs rather than market speculation.
Affordability requires both, not either/or.
Endorsed by: UESF, Solidarity Club SF, San Franciscans for Social Housing, Small Business Forward, Brad Chapin, Supervisor Myrna Melgar (#2), Rose Pak Asian American Club (#3)
Gary McCoy
- Job: Former staffer to Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and former vice president of policy and public affairs at HealthRIGHT 360
- Age: 48
- Residency: Renter, has lived in San Francisco for 24 years and District 8 for 15 years
- Transportation: Driving, biking, public transit and walking
- Education: Former City College of San Francisco student, certified phlebotomy technician from Bay Area Medical Academy
- Languages: English
As a renter in San Francisco, I know how important rent control is for people to be able to stay in their homes. Right now, San Franciscoโs rent control only covers buildings built before 1979. That cutoff gets older every year, which means that renters in newer buildings face steep rent increases.
I support moving to a rolling system, where buildings phase into rent stabilization as they age. This prevents displacement and keeps new construction financially viable while adding to our rent-controlled housing stock so more people can stay in their homes in the long-term.
Endorsed by: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, State Sen. Scott Wiener, Supervisor Matt Dorsey, San Francisco Labor Council, Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club, Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, San Francisco Tenants Union, UESF โฆ see more here.
Candidates are ordered alphabetically and rotated each week. Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at io@missionlocal.com.
Election Day is on Nov. 3, 2026. You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.
Nguyen’s utterly idiotic answer — which would inevitably tank the creation of new rental housing stock — automatically disqualifies him for any elected or appointed office in San Francisco (or anywhere for that matter).
Evidently, some people, like Michael Nguyen Esq., are so intellectually shallow and ideologically-driven that they are incapable of critical thought and fail to learn the lessons of (even recent) history.
I imagine Grow SF is not happy with these responses. They must be on the horn now with their endorsement Patel – all up in a panic.
It’s funny how cities with rent control have higher rents than cities that do not have rent control. It’s almost as if . . .
Nguyen is the only progressive in this race. He is endorsed by Our Revolution, CA Working Families Party, Dean Preston, Harvey Milk Clubโฆ.