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Dressed in his go-to black T-shirt and Outside Lands baseball cap — which he got doling out gumbo to drunken concert-going 20-somethings — San Francisco’s newest Homelessness Oversight Board commissioner sat back in his chair, embracing the calm after the lunchtime rush.
Dontaye Ball is a busy guy. In addition to his new role, he is president of the Bayview Merchant’s Association and a relentless booster for the small businesses of the Third Street corridor, like Radio Africa Kitchen and All Good Pizza.
He caters community events all across the neighborhood, slinging gumbo at a glass-blowing studio one day and a birthday party for someone’s 84-year-old grandmother the next. He’s garnered some local celebrity: He’s appeared on countless podcasts, and even The Kelly Clarkson show.
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But when Ball received the call from Mayor Daniel Lurie, asking if he was interested in being on the commission, he admits he was a bit surprised.
Ball doesn’t consider himself a “political person,” he said. All other commissioners on the board, which serves as an oversight and advisory body for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, have extensive experience in policy or homelessness advocacy.
But, put in context, the mayor’s invitation is not that surprising. Lurie has shown a penchant for appointing political newcomers, and Ball is definitely a newcomer.
During his nomination at the Board of Supervisors in October, Lurie stressed Ball’s experience as a small-business owner and community leader with “more than 20 years of experience spanning fine dining, catering, and restaurant management.”
Gumbo Social sits on quiet Third Street, tucked between a hardware store and an empty parking lot.
Before Ball opened his first brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2023, he had been serving gumbo at farmers markets across the city in the wake of the pandemic, when he, along with many other restaurant workers, were laid off from their jobs.
Though Ball is convinced that his gumbo “will never compare” to that of his grandmother’s, it nonetheless inspired long lines of market-goers .
Ball stood in the kitchen of Gumbo Social, taking one of his many calls of the day. He had a strict half-hour cutoff before his next call, he said. The salty-sweet aroma of gumbo hung in the air, and early-aughts hip-hop music played at a low hum.
As a small-business owner, Ball has often had to interact with people who are unhoused in the neighborhood. Many of the young men he has seen recently, wandering down Bayview’s downtown corridor, are around his son’s age, he noted.
“I want to see what I can do to help support young people,” said Ball. As a single parent, he said, he has lived with housing insecurity “a few different times in my life,” a rarity on the Homelessness Oversight Commission.
But, said Ball, his situation is not unique. Bayview, once a majority-Black neighborhood, has experienced an exodus of Black and low-income residents in recent years as rent skyrockets and job opportunities diminish.
“From the standpoint of someone from Bayview, there’s this thing about being displaced. Once you leave and go to another city, it’s hard to get back to San Francisco,” Ball said.
Finding housing has proved to be a challenge.
“Culturally, as a proud man, I have very often tried to figure it out alone,” he admitted. “But the city has the tools to help.”
The southeast corner of the city has one of the fastest-growing homeless populations in the city. Between 2022 and 2024, Bayview’s homeless population spiked by 47 percent, according to the 2024 Point-In-Time Count.
It has been a focal point for a crackdown on RV parking passed earlier this year, and has been called the city’s “dumping ground” by its supervisor, Shamann Walton, for the number of shelters proposed in the district.
When asked about his thoughts on this city’s homelessness policies, Ball says he’s “not well-versed enough, not yet at least,” he said. He’s spending his spare time reading up on the subject, and listening intently during his monthly board meetings.
The walls of Gumbo Social are lined with black-and-white posters of Black dancers and a photograph of President Barack Obama, posing with a bottle of hot sauce at Dookie Chase, the legendary Creole restaurant in New Orleans. Ball points to the photo.
“Civil rights is based around food,” he said. “It’s about rejuvenation, collaboration, community … for anyone who walks through my doors.”
When asked if he has political aspirations, Ball erupts into a hearty laugh, but doesn’t dismiss the question. He’s been asked by his customers if he would run for the District 10 supervisor’s seat in 2026, Ball said.
But, he adds, he’s excited about the candidates who have already announced they’re in the running, including public affairs executive Theo Ellington and San Francisco government alum Bill Barnes, among others.
“I’m a bit of a wild card,” Ball admits, smiling sheepishly. “But I’d say I’m also a man of the people.”
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