Matt Haney has become the most visible SF supervisor. Is...

Ever since winning a spot on the Board of Supervisors by a landslide just over a year ago, Supervisor Matt Haney has quickly established himself as one of the most visible and outspoken public officials in San Francisco.

As the District Six supervisor for such neighborhoods as the Tenderloin, South of Market and Civic Center, Haney oversees one of the most troubled swaths of San Francisco. In the past year, he has approached the job with boundless energy and a laser-like focus on the city’s most pressing issues: homelessness, mental health and drug addiction.

While his supporters applaud his stamina, his critics say he has stoked division in City Hall by constantly dressing down city leaders, claiming they are ineffective. His criticisms of mayoral departments are often perceived as a rebuke of the mayor herself.

And as his name recognition grows, a chorus of San Francisco political observers are pondering another question: Does Matt Haney have his eyes on the mayor’s office?

In an interview with The Chronicle, Haney objected to speculation of his political ambitions: “I'm not thinking about that at all,” he said. “I’m doing the job that I have right now and working to keep the promises that I made to to the residents of District Six.”

For years, District Six has been the epicenter of San Francisco’s homelessness, mental health and drug crises. Haney says his constituents expect him to focus on one job at a time.

“I don't think I was elected to come in here and be nice to city bureaucrats and the department heads,” he said. “I was elected to come in here and get them to do their jobs.”

Jim Ross, a longtime political consultant, said it makes sense that Haney is focused on the city’s most pressing issues.

“His district is really ground zero for a lot of issues,” he said. “His work on that is going to put him out in front, naturally.”

Still, his first year on the Board of Supervisors — filled with a stream of legislation and a spirited presence on social media — suggests his aspirations may stretch far beyond the district’s borders.

“That’s not even a question,” said Del Seymour, a longtime Tenderloin activist, when asked whether Haney seemed like he was seeking higher office.

With Breed barely a month into her first full term as mayor, some political observers said it was too soon to guess who might take her on in the next election. But the mayor and her staff appear to be sizing Haney up as a potential rival.

“The mayor was just sworn in for a four-year term a month ago, and we are focused on addressing the very real challenges facing our city, especially around housing and homelessness,” said Jeff Cretan, a spokesman for the mayor’s office.

“We will continue to work with the members of the board to advance solutions to address these issues,” he said.

Randy Shaw, director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, and a reliable Breed supporter, said the mayor’s staff members think Haney is readying for a run.

Before becoming a supervisor, Haney was a longtime school board member who’d worked at a social justice nonprofit and taught law and sociology.

During his tenure, Haney and other board members have been deeply critical of the Department of Public Health, the Juvenile Justice Department and Public Works.

“Everything that I’m doing is to make changes happen up against a bureaucracy that is continuing to fail my district,” Haney said.

Over just the past few months, Haney has pushed forward legislation to overhaul the city’s mental health care system and is readying a November ballot measure to break up Public Works into two departments.

But in following his political instincts to seize the spotlight, Haney has stumbled at times. After sparring for months with Public Works over street cleaning, Haney called for the ouster of its powerful director, Mohammed Nuru, after Nuru was charged with fraud this month.

But Haney had to walk back his remarks after an organization that represents government managers said he may have been flirting with official misconduct. The city’s Charter forbids supervisors from influencing hiring and firing decisions. Haney later tweeted that “so much time and energy” had been expended “trying to prevent me from speaking out” about Nuru.

Privately, members of Breed’s staff fumed at Haney’s outspokenness on the issue.

“It’s great that Matt is pushing on a lot of fronts. But since the Nuru thing, he’s been a little more combative than strategic,” said Shaw. “The notion has been that ‘Nuru did all this and it connects to London Breed and her administration’s culture.’ It’s perceived by her people as ‘Matt’s running for mayor.’”

Breed’s public response to Haney’s criticisms has been generally muted. And while both Haney and Breed’s office say they’re always willing to work together, the friction is clear.

City employees, non-profit providers, doctors, nurses, social workers, and countless others are working every single day to address the public health crisis brought on by drug addiction.



Let's do more, but let's not pretend that nothing's being done. https://t.co/vSV9C7LzuG — Mayor London Breed's Press Office (@MyrPressOffice) January 10, 2020

Last week, Haney said he received “no heads-up” before Breed announced a plan to open a sobering center for methamphetamine users in his district. Shaw said keeping Haney in the dark about the proposal meant Tenderloin residents also weren’t informed about an important development in their community.

“We’re in an unfortunate dynamic where the mayor thinks getting back at him requires the disenfranchisement of the Tenderloin,” he added.

Meanwhile, some legislation sponsored by Haney has made a splash in City Hall, but also rankled the mayor.

Perhaps the most notable was Mental Health SF, a sweeping plan to overhaul the city’s behavioral health care system. He spearheaded the proposal with Supervisor Hillary Ronen.

The plan rankled Breed and the Department of Public Health, who say they weren’t consulted in the plan’s creation. Breed and the department then came up with their own competing plan, which they said was more realistic.

Yes! The pressure is working. I hope to see more Navigation Centers proposed and announced even before our legislation is passed the Board. https://t.co/FoSkPQSPIg — Matt Haney (@MattHaneySF) December 19, 2019

In the end, they compromised, but Ronen and Haney argued the overhaul wouldn’t have happened without their leadership.

Ronen praised Haney’s work ethic. “I get texts from him early in the morning and late at night with ideas and worries and frustrations about what is going on. We’ve shared similar struggles to get departments to be responsive,” she said.

Among his colleagues, Haney was behind only Supervisor Aaron Peskin in the number of pieces of legislation sponsored in 2019.

Some of the proposals called out the executive branch for what he sees as ineffective leadership. For example, he tried — and failed — to get a measure on the November ballot to create an oversight commission for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. The proposal frustrated Breed, who argued it would increase bureaucracy.

Now Haney is fighting to get a homeless shelter in every district that doesn’t have one — a response to the majority of homeless resources landing in his district. But some of his board colleagues are not thrilled.

Haney’s supporters say he is genuinely fighting for the needs of his district. Seymour, the Tenderloin activist, said over his 37 years working in the neighborhood, he has never seen a supervisor out on the streets as much as Haney.

“We see him in the Tenderloin daily, which I have never seen with a supervisor,” he said.

Privately, Haney's critics claim he offers a lot of empty bluster — hearings and task forces — that have yielded few tangible results.

Haney rebukes the criticism that he is too active, but doesn’t deliver change.

“I could write legislation to basically micromanage everything that every department is doing. Nobody wants me to do that. Instead I'm trying to force them to actually be responsible and accountable, and wherever I have the opportunity, I will legislate,” Haney said.

Jason McDaniel, a political scientist at San Francisco State University, said Haney’s status as a newcomer in San Francisco politics has given him the freedom to call out the so-called establishment.

“He is active,” McDaniel said. “But I’ve been wondering if it’s because I’m on Twitter a lot and so is he — or if it’s something else.”

Dominic Fracassa and Trisha Thadani are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com, tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa, @TrishaThadani