A Budget Year Like No Other
San Francisco City Hall just completed its budget cycle. I was appointed to serve on the two most critical fiscal committees: budget and finance along with budget and appropriations.
The Budget and Finance Committee helps review city expenditures by department, while the Budget and Appropriations Committee helps direct spending over the next fiscal year. In January 2025, Board President Rafael Mandelman appointed me to both committees.
This year, the budget process was more intense than usual because our City faces a historic deficit of $800 million. On “deliberation day” – a Wednesday in the last week of June – negotiations at City Hall lasted from 10 a.m. until past 2 a.m. It was a long night of tough decisions, requiring deep collaboration between supervisors to protect services and balance our City’s books.
Fighting for the Sunset’s Priorities
As your supervisor representing the Sunset and Parkside neighborhoods, I successfully fought for District 4 and the critical services our residents depend on every day.
My advocacy helped restore funding for:
• Culturally competent senior food access.
• Affordable and accessible childcare.
• Civil legal services.
I also secured dedicated funding for Sunset Boulevard maintenance and to keep our trilingual community safety liaison at Taraval Station.
Prevention Over Reaction
Since beginning as the District 4 supervisor – and especially during my time on both budget committees – I’ve grown acutely aware of the quantity of resources our City dedicates to downstream consequences. For that reason, I prioritized fiscal and policy solutions that focus on prevention.
That’s why I championed the restoration of funding for civil legal services. Investing in civil legal services saves taxpayer dollars in the long run – this is backed by facts.
When we invest in basic civil legal services, we protect domestic violence survivors from their abusers, help bankruptcy victims keep roofs over their heads and keep the power on for seniors who cannot afford electricity bills. These investments in prevention reduce city spending on reactive services, like emergency shelter, behavioral health, street cleaning, public safety, food access, permanent supportive housing and more.
Throughout the budget process, I worked collaboratively with the mayor, my colleagues on the budget committee, community members and labor organizations. And even in a deficit year, we prevented layoffs of city workers and restored vital services for the most vulnerable.
I’m proud to be part of this solution, not just for the Sunset, but for San Francisco.
A New Path to Affordable Housing
While deep in the budget process, I was also working on a major piece of housing legislation. I authored a new law that lets homeowners build and sell in-law units – also called accessory dwelling units, or ADUs – separately as condos. On July 1, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to pass this legislation.
This has never been allowed in San Francisco before. For decades, homeowners could only rent out ADUs. Now, by the end of the summer, homeowners with fewer than four units on their lot can build an ADU and sell it as a condo. Families can unlock the value in their properties without having to move, sell or use their homes as collateral.
This law especially helps long-term residents in neighborhoods like the Sunset and Parkside. Many fall into the category known as “house-rich and cash-poor.” Younger generations are being priced out. My legislation gives families a new option to stay together.
It also creates more entry-level homes without changing the look or height of our neighborhoods. This is a practical, common-sense solution that can help people right away.
We need more action like this – beyond the budget – to keep San Francisco livable and family-friendly.
We have much more work to do, so please reach out if you’d like to get involved or offer advice.
Joel Engardio is the District 4 representative on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He can be reached at EngardioStaff@sfgov.org.
Categories: City Hall
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 
“Fighting for the Sunset’s Priorities“
What a joke.
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Joel,
If you had spent half as much time listening to your constituents and making amends as you now spend filming yourself and flexing over legislation no one asked for, we wouldn’t be here. You didn’t and so here we are.
Now you’re trying to paint yourself as a tireless public servant. But let’s look closer at the spin in your newsletter:
“I was appointed to budget committees!
You say you fought for culturally competent senior food access. That’s a basic citywide service. Every supervisor fought for this it’s not unique to you. You showed up to a budget fight that was already happening and now want credit for not making it worse.
You claim victory for affordable and accessible childcare. Again, that’s a citywide priority. Where’s the evidence you did anything specific to improve childcare access for working families in the Sunset? If you created a new program just for District 4, show us. Otherwise, you’re riding on the work of others.
You brag about restoring civil legal services. Yet when it came to our legal concerns like how Prop K was pushed through without proper community input you ignored us. Now you want to say you’re a champion of legal services? Please.
You mention Sunset Boulevard maintenance. That’s basic street upkeep. That’s like bragging about putting out the garbage. No one’s clapping for that.
You tout keeping a trilingual community safety liaison at Taraval Station. That position existed already. If you truly cared about public safety, you would’ve fought to expand community policing and rebuild trust after years of SFMTA construction chaos. One liaison doesn’t fix those problems.
“I fought for prevention over reaction.“
This is rich coming from someone whose entire term has been reactive. You didn’t prevent a crisis—you created one. You helped craft Prop K behind closed doors, excluded your own staff and neighbors, and shoved through a plan that your district overwhelmingly rejected. And only now, after facing a recall, do you want to talk about “trust” and “collaboration”? Too little, too late.
“I passed a new law to help homeowners build and sell ADUs.”
Let’s be clear: your ADU condo law includes no affordability protections, no first-time buyer safeguards, and no anti-flipping measures. Yes, the board voted unanimously, but only because it was pitched as a harmless technical fix. In truth, it opens the door to speculative real estate development in one of the few remaining stable, multigenerational parts of the city. Longtime residents weren’t consulted. You quietly partnered with YIMBY lobbying groups, and now you’re trying to sell this as a win for families. It’s not. It’s a win for developers.
“I’m working hard for you.”
Only now after the recall qualified are we seeing the campaign-style videos, the newsletter blasts, and the sudden push for constituent engagement. Where was this energy when you were advancing Prop K? Where was your transparency when you bypassed your district to close the Upper Great Highway and disrupt the lives of working-class commuters, caregivers, and families?
And when your critics speak up, we’re told we’re “against joy.” So let’s address that too:
Joy is not being stuck in gridlock because the only coastal arterial road was shut down.
Joy is not racking up late fees, losing clients, or missing daycare pickups.
Joy is not wondering if an ambulance will get through in time.
You don’t get to call Sunset Dunes a “healing space” when it was installed over massive public opposition. Every single District 4 precinct voted against Prop K. That’s not unity—that’s disenfranchisement.
The truth is, this park and your behavior surrounding it are symbols of betrayal. You didn’t just fail to listen you actively silenced your district and then turned your back.
So no, we’re not falling for the sudden PR blitz. You had your chance to lead with integrity. You chose self-promotion over service, and secrecy over transparency.
Now we’re choosing something else.
The recall is not about partisanship or ideology. It’s about accountability. It’s about restoring the relationship between a community and the person elected to serve it.
And Joel that’s a job you stopped doing a long time ago.
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Wendy, I wish you could see how you’re coming across here. You even go so far as to compare funding for legal aid for people with critical needs like imminent eviction or immigration detention to your concerns about how many community meetings there should have been before something was placed on the ballot. Previously, you wrote a letter to the editor where you were furious that Supervisor Engardio posted on social media celebrating his anniversary. This kind of blind rage is not what I thought our neighborhood was about.
I’d suggest a relaxing walk by the ocean since that always makes me feel better, but…
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Likewise I wish you could see how you come across – snark without substance is evidently what Joel supporters value most as they fake sincerity repeatedly.
I guess you couldn’t come up with anything constructive or positive either.
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Wendy rocks. She speaks for the sentiments of Richmond / Sunset residents with far more authenticity than Joel Engardio.
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Why don’t you spend more money on yet another 2 mile asphalt playground? Will that help the budget even more. This seems to be your logic? You wasted Sunset taxpayer dollars for your own political gain. Remember, we didn’t elect you, we voted against Supervisor Mar getting re-elected. We voted him out for destroying the Great Highway and creating a traffic nightmare, and you’re next. Mar didn’t listen to his constituents just like you!
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Let’s see, re waste of money: $400,000+ for new traffic lights on 41st and Lincoln which hasn’t really helped the log jam there created by the closure of the Great Highway. Collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars from tech bros who don’t live in the western side of SF to oppose signature collection – so I agree THAT was a waste of money since the signatures were successfully gathered despite your paid ads, etc. Now collecting a nearly half million $$ pot from those same tech bros to defeat the recall – hopefully another waste of money. Re law enforcement and security/safety: Where were you when the slow riders created repeated traffic jams on the open GH when they DELIBERATELY obstructed traffic for hours and many people were late for work, picking up children, getting to medical appointments. Not a peep out of you. Encouraging pianos and art installations in a “park” that has long periods of low attendance and no security – then blaming recall supporters for the vandalism without any evidence for that claim. Doing nothing to stop illegal fireworks and post graduation gatherings that left trash, vandalism, etc. Not questioning the source of the money for installing “art”, making skate parks, etc now that we know how poorly, even fraudulently managed, the SF Parks Alliance is. Where is the scrutiny for the “friends of the Great Highway ‘park'” that suddenly can build all these “amenities” when already existing parks languish with no maintenance?
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Be careful Engardio, you might break your arm patting yourself on the back!
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