![\"Four](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4F572E7F-0E21-49E5-A898-671DAC4AB68E_1_105_c-853x640.jpeg\")
Theo Ellington (far left), J.R. Eppler (second from left), Sara Russel (second from right), and Brandon Powell (far right), sit before a crowd at YIMBY Action\u2019s candidate forum on August 10, 2026. Photo by Marina Newman. <\/p>\nSan Francisco YIMBY might have sponsored a housing forum for District 10\u2019s would-be supervisors, but that didn\u2019t mean the candidates at the forum were completely on board with YIMBY\u2019s platform. On Monday night, both J.R. Eppler and Theo Ellington agreed that District 10 needs a five-year exclusion, and in some areas, a permanent exemption, from a senate bill designed to spur new high-density housing development along major transit corridors.<\/p>\n
Potrero Hill-based attorney J.R. Eppler said the five-year exemption from the bill, known as SB79, in the mayor\u2019s zoning plan gives community leaders essential time to figure out how to protect lower-income residents.<\/p>\n
Theo Ellington (far left), J.R. Eppler (second from left), Sara Russel (second from right), and Brandon Powell (far right), sit before a crowd at YIMBY Action\u2019s candidate forum on August 10, 2026. Photo by Marina Newman. <\/p>\n
Theo Ellington, director of Bayview\u2019s Ruth Williams Opera House, agreed, and offered another reason \u2014\u00a0District 10\u2019s large swaths of industrial zones need to be safeguarded and modernized to bring jobs to Bayview, which is suffering from a high unemployment rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
San Francisco YIMBY has yet to endorse a candidate in District 10, though it has already thrown its support behind Stephen Sherrill, who is campaigning for reelection in District 2, and Alan Wong in District 4.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the forum, Brandon Powell, Bay Area organizing director for YIMBY, described Eppler and Ellington\u2019s position on the SB79 exclusion as disappointing. \u201cDo I think they\u2019re banking to be leads in SF YIMBY, maybe not,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s misguided to have permanent exclusions,\u201d to the bill, he said. \u201cState laws are great. We should embrace them as a city.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sherrill has taken stances that SF YIMBY disagrees with \u2014 namely the Marina Safeway project<\/a>, which Sherrill opposes and YIMBY supports.\u00a0<\/p>\n When asked whether the group would endorse Eppler or Ellington despite their stance on exemptions to SB79, Powell responded that YIMBY doesn\u2019t \u201cdo litmus tests.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The deciding factor in SF YIMBY\u2019s D10 endorsement will be based on a questionnaire sent by volunteers to four of the 10 candidates who are set to appear on the November ballot, Powell said. Powell noted to Mission Local that the organization intended to send all candidates a questionnaire, but only four received one, which Powell attributed to an issue of \u201cvolunteer capacity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n One of those four, likely front-runner Dion-Jay Brookter, the former chief executive officer at Young Community Developers, was noticeably absent from Monday night\u2019s forum. \u201cI feel lonely without 13 other people up here,\u201d noted Ellington, before the forum began.\u00a0<\/p>\n Previous District 10 candidate forums have drawn criticism<\/a> in recent weeks for including candidates who haven\u2019t received any endorsements or donations, and have been criticized as unserious.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brookter said he wasn\u2019t invited to Monday\u2019s forum until late Saturday afternoon, after his team asked SF YIMBY why Brookter hadn\u2019t received an invitation or been included in promotional materials for the event. Later that day, SF YIMBY sent out an email announcing that Brookter would be joining the forum, though Brookter\u2019s team said they didn\u2019t agree to attend.<\/p>\n Volunteer organizers said that they initially made the decision of who to invite by excluding candidates who had received less than $100,000 in donations. Brookter is more than $31,000 short of that metric.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was disheartened that one of the most prominent pro-housing organizations in San Francisco excluded so many of the voices fighting for the future of District 10,\u201d said Brookter, in a statement. \u201cIn a district that is so often overlooked, it is important that we make space for all voices to be heard.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Brookter is a long-time ally of sitting Supervisor Shamann Walton, who SF YIMBY has labeled as \u201canti-housing<\/a>,\u201d for his low voting record on measures to build, including against a 495-unit housing project near BART and MUNI and his support of 2022\u2019s Prop E, which required the approval of the Board of Supervisors for affordable housing projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n