San Franciscans elected political newcomer Daniel Lurie as their new mayor last week. A philanthropist and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, Lurie brings a moderate platform that could have major implications for the Latinx communities living and working in the city. His agenda focuses heavily on public safety, transparency and holding individuals accountable, from politicians to nonprofit leaders and those participating in the illegal drug market.
“I’m worried about the direction that we’re heading in,” Lurie said during the Latino Mayoral Candidate Forum in September. “We have a behavioral health crisis, property crime issues, and our streets are not safe. We can and need to do better.”
In the forum, hosted by the San Francisco Latino Party and Equity, Lurie joined other candidates to discuss issues uniquely impacting Latinx communities, including housing affordability, safety, and support for immigrant families. As he prepares to take office in January, here’s a look at how he’s promised to approach these key issues.
On addressing homelessness: more shelters and crackdowns
Before entering the mayoral race, Lurie founded Tipping Point Community, an anti-poverty nonprofit focused on cutting San Francisco homelessness in half. Though the initiative fell short of its ambitious goal, it built several affordable housing units across the city and connected individuals experiencing homelessness to permanent supportive housing and other resources.
As mayor, Lurie said he plans to build 1,500 additional emergency shelter beds and 2,500 temporary housing units in the next two years — potentially reducing the long wait hundreds of people endure to receive support. He also said he wants to provide specialized accommodations for families and make the shelter and waitlist process more transparent.
Much like Mayor London Breed’s homelessness crackdown following the Grants Pass Supreme Court ruling, Lurie plans to take an aggressive approach toward unsheltered people in encampments who refuse alternatives provided by the city, including the possibility of arrest and mandated addiction treatment.
“If you don’t accept any of the options, people will face arrest,” Lurie told The Standard in July. “No one wants to arrest our way out of this problem. That is not the way to go about it. But it’s got to be a tool in the toolkit.”
Building more affordable housing
Corruption and bureaucracy at City Hall, Lurie argues, is the reason San Francisco can’t climb out of its affordable housing crisis. To fix this, Lurie said he would streamline the permitting process and accelerate affordable housing construction, using union labor.
“I’m excited about that,” Lurie said at the September debate, adding that he wants to focus new housing along major transit and job corridors. “We need to build more affordable housing throughout the Mission as well.”
Policing and safety for small business owners, commuters
A key aspect of Lurie’s campaign has been public safety. He says he hopes to revitalize small businesses and downtown by increasing police presence, including in the Mission District, which houses two major BART stops and has experienced a series of store break-ins in recent years.
In the September debate, Lurie proposed nighttime police shifts on Muni bus lines to ensure “people are getting to and from work safely.” He also emphasized the need for faster 911 response times for business owners and building trust between communities and local police.
Increased policing has long been a point of contention for Latinx residents. While business owners and late-night commuters call for a larger SFPD presence, other residents worry it could lead to increased profiling and violence against already marginalized groups.
A sanctuary city, for some
In the face of a Trump presidency and a political landscape increasingly hostile toward undocumented individuals, Lurie has voiced his commitment to San Francisco’s sanctuary city ordinance, which prevents city officials from cooperating with ICE unless required by federal law.
“It makes our city safer,” said Lurie during the forum. “We need immigrants to be able to come forward at any time for law enforcement without fear.”
However, these protections might not be given to all immigrants. Like current Mayor London Breed, Lurie has said he doesn’t believe the sanctuary city ordinance should extend to people involved in illegal drug sales, such as fentanyl.
Currently, San Francisco collaborates with federal authorities in prosecuting fentanyl dealers, a practice that can trigger deportation for undocumented individuals. This approach has been criticized by immigrant advocates, who argue that it penalizes people who may be victims to human trafficking, and forced to sell drugs and restricts their legal defense options.
Lurie, who said he would declare a fentanyl state of emergency on his first day in office, is unlikely to push for a different approach.
Streamlining nonprofit support – with accountability
As part of his efforts to improve “a broken City Hall,” Lurie said he wants to streamline support for nonprofits, including those that serve Latinx and immigrant communities, proposing quicker and “more upfront” funding instead of the current months-long wait.
At the same time, he emphasized that funding will be tied to performance, with a focus on “measurable results” to ensure city resources are used effectively.
Lurie also said he was committed to increasing Latinx representation within his administration to ensure that conversations about funding and community support occur year-round.
Have any questions about election results and how they might impact you? Send an email to Mariana at mariana@eltecolote.org. This report is part of The Pueblo’s Agenda, El Tecolote’s civic engagement project focused on answering questions and making local election information accessible to San Francisco’s bilingual Latinx communities.