Breed names Elsbernd chief of staff

San Francisco Mayor-elect London Breed announced Monday that she’s tapped former Supervisor Sean Elsbernd to be her chief of staff as she begins her transition to the mayor’s office.

Elsbernd now serves as U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein’s state director, but will move into Breed’s administration after the Nov. 6 election. Elsbernd previously represented District Seven on the board of supervisors. Elsbernd is also an attorney and a former senior staffer for then-Mayor Gavin Newsom.

The announcement marks the first major appointment of Breed’s incoming administration.

“I am thrilled to have Sean join my team,” Breed said in a statement. “With his depth of experience, incredible intellect and proven leadership skills, he is just what my administration, and our city, needs.”

For his part, Elsbernd said in the statement, “I am determined to see that Sen. Feinstein continues to serve our nation so incredibly well, and then I will be ready roll up my sleeves and get to work here at home.” He declined to comment further Monday afternoon. PJ Johnston, a spokesman for Breed’s transition team, said that Mayor Mark Farrell’s chief of staff, Jason Elliot, has agreed to stay on through the end of August to help the incoming administration’s transition run smoothly. It’s a month longer than he initially planned.

Elliott, who served as Breed’s chief of staff following the death of Ed Lee in December, announced earlier this month that he would join Newsom’s gubernatorial campaign immediately after Breed’s swearing-in.

“Once the mayor-elect is sworn in and takes office, she’ll be working with all the staff in City Hall to ensure a smooth transition, and that includes covering the duties before the new chief of staff arrives,” Johnston said.

Before being termed out as a supervisor in 2012, Elsbernd was known for his expertise in parliamentary procedure. He caucused with the board’s moderate faction, but worked across political divisions. He was also known for his willingness to dig into the more unglamorous aspects of local government, like budget and pension reforms and tax policy.

Breed will be sworn in as the city’s 45th mayor on July 11. She and Feinstein are the only women to hold the city’s top job. Back-filling Prop. D: San Francisco lawmakers have approved an updated budget plan to fund a number of homelessness- and housingrelated services that city officials had hoped to pay for with the proceeds from Proposition D, a local measure that voters rejected earlier this month.

Prop. D would have brought in tens of millions of dollars for the city’s homelessness and housing departments by raising taxes on commercial landlords — money that the city had contemplated spending on things like housing subsidy programs and a new Navigation Center for at-risk youth.

But a $27.2 million grant that the city expects to receive from the state, plus $16.1 million in savings from lower-than-expected health care rates for retirees, is filling the gap. The $27.2 million grant should begin flowing to San Francisco’s coffers once Gov. Jerry Brown signs the state budget this week. The city’s Budget and Finance Committee unanimously approved the city’s updated — or “rebalanced” — budget on Monday. The funding allocation was proposed by budget chair Malia Cohen and Mayor-elect London Breed, working with the mayor’s budget office.

In addition to a new Navigation Center for at-risk youth, the funding will also be used for existing homelessnessrelated programs like operating existing Navigation Centers, expanding shelter capacity and creating new units of permanent, supportive housing over the next two fiscal years.

The money will also be used to fund the city’s program to provide legal services to anyone facing an eviction. Voters approved Proposition F on election night to provide those services, but the measure didn’t include a funding source. Over the next two fiscal years, the city will spend around $4.8 million to provide attorneys to tenants undergoing eviction proceedings beginning Jan. 1. That money will be on top of the $2 million the city provides to nonprofits for similar legal assistance for tenants and an additional $500,000 set aside for tenant defense in the city’s pot of so-called add-back money.

Each year, the city’s pot of add-back funds is assembled after the budget analyst’s office combs through the budget and recommends cuts. That money is then “added back” into the budget, and it’s up to the supervisors to decide how to spend it.

“These proposed budget revisions would be a big step forward,” said Dean Preston, a tenant rights attorney who helped lead the advocacy effort for Prop. F. “The sooner we get this program implemented, the more unfair evictions we will stop.”