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Back to supervisor mapBilal Mahmood
District 5 Supervisor
District 5 includes Haight Ashbury, Lower Haight, Fillmore, Western Addition, North Panhandle, Japantown, Hayes Valley, Tenderloin, and Civic Center.
Elected
November 2024
Won by 1,664 votes.
Up for Re-Election
November 2028
Bilal Mahmood was elected Supervisor for San Francisco's District 5 in 2024, running on a platform focused on housing and public safety. He unseated incumbent supervisor Dean Preston, who was a notorious opponent of building more homes and shutting down open air drug markets in the Tenderloin.
Former Supervisors:
Policy positions & priorities
Housing
As a strong advocate for building more homes, Mahmood is working to reform the planning approval processes and streamline housing permits. He aims to consolidate redundant permits and reduce permitting fees while working across the aisle with state legislators on housing bond measures. His goal is to ensure that both subsidized and market-rate housing can be constructed throughout District 5. Understanding that state funding is tied to development timelines, Mahmood is focused on ensuring that permitting approvals are completed within 18 months.
Public Safety
Mahmood's public safety strategy centers on shutting down open-air drug markets in the Tenderloin through the Drug Market Intervention strategy. He is committed to fully funding the Drug Market Agency Coordination Center (DMACC) and filling the 1,000 vacant public safety and public health positions. Recognizing the importance of street safety to District 5 residents, Mahmood will work closely with the Tenderloin Police Station to increase beat patrols and promote community policing. He supports workforce development programs for non-violent
first-time offenders.
- Quadruple the recruiting staff in SFPD. Hire civil service recruiters who focus on getting officers into and through the hiring process.
- Cut the red tape that is slowing down the hiring process. The average time from application to hire is 255 days. Mahmood will streamline the process by eliminating outdated paperwork and unnecessary interview protocols.
- Offer educational incentive programs for officers. Mahmood will consider legislation like reimbursing college education for SFPD officers in exchange for years of service.
Homelessness
To address homelessness in District 5, Mahmood is implementing the Build for Zero system to coordinate city departments and end chronic street homelessness. The approach has been successful in 14 places across the United States, and is currently being implemented in 142 places.
The basic idea of the Build for Zero system is:
- Canvassing across District 5 to collect information on every homeless person.
- Maintaining an up to date database of the names and needs of each homeless person (updated monthly, at a minimum).
- Delivering what each person needs according to the database, until every person is housed.
Mahmood is also working to speed up the construction of shelter beds.
Transit and Street Safety
Mahmood is focused on accelerating the MUNI driver hiring process to ensure all transit lines are well-staffed, but a looming $200+ million budget deficit may delay hiring further. He will improve street safety through the installation of automated speed enforcement cameras and the conversion of one-way streets into two-way streets, which lowers average vehicle speed so collisions are less deadly. His vision includes expanding San Francisco's Slow Streets program and supporting more car-free initiatives like Hayes Street and the Golden Gate Greenway.
Climate Action and Food Security
Climate action and food security are key priorities in Mahmood's agenda. He is developing legislation to reduce home electrification costs, introduce guidance for 2026 state home electrification mandates, streamline EV charging hub installation, and promote Smart A/C and heat pump adoption. On the food security front, Mahmood is working to expand cooperative grocery stores through favorable legislation and tax incentives, while also partnering with pharmacies to ensure District 5 residents have reliable access to medicine.
Labor Rights & Economic Development
As an advocate for labor rights, Mahmood is authoring the WAGE Act (Workers Against Grievous Exploitation and Corruption) to increase transparency around wage theft and expand funding for its prosecution. He is implementing requirements for developer transparency regarding subcontractors, who often commit wage theft, and partnering with the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE) to conduct anti-corruption audits.
Mahmood's economic development strategy focuses on streamlining small business permits, particularly for food establishments, and developing permanent night markets to provide local vendors with consistent selling opportunities. He strongly supports energizing downtown through the integration of university spaces and is committed to supporting the creation of an academic village with student housing.