Shireen McSpadden, Executive Director
Shireen McSpadden is the Executive Director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing for the City and County of San Francisco. She was appointed by Mayor London N. Breed in April of 2021, after a nation-wide search.
Her experience and connection to communities helps the Department meet its strategic goals of serving our most vulnerable residents. Shireen has over 30 years’ experience providing services to people with disabilities and seniors, in both the nonprofit and public sectors. In 2020, she was recognized for her anti-ageism work by Time Magazine, named as one of 16 people and groups fighting for a more equitable America. She has served on several boards and committees including the Glide Foundation, the San Francisco Palliative Care Work Group, the California Association of Area Agencies on Aging and USAging.
As a member of Governor Newsom’s Master Plan for Aging Stakeholder Committee, Shireen helped shape California’s Master Plan for Aging. Shireen was appointed by Secretary Mark Ghaly to California’s Disability and Aging Community Advisory Committee. She also currently serves as a board member for Openhouse, which builds community by centering the voices of LGBTQ+ older adults. She is a founding board member for Capstone Community Solutions, which seek to help build communities through empowerment and indigenous leadership. She recently joined the Leadership Council of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Shireen holds a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco.
Marion Sanders, Chief Deputy Director
Marion Sanders, a public administrator and social worker, serves as HSH’s Chief Deputy Director.
Homelessness is personal to her. Marion’s mother experienced several episodes of homelessness, including multiple stints on Skid Row throughout Marion’s childhood and career in homelessness services. She discovered the core reason for her commitment to ending homelessness in response to a question asked by her professor in a social work seminar course. The question was, “Who are you trying to save?” The answer for Marion, then, was her family. Her answer now is that she is trying to save the family system.
She has spent the past decade as a systems leader and thought partner in the creation of effective programming and policy designed to remove barriers for people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County. She held various roles at the Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System (HOPICS); in her latest role as Deputy Director, she was responsible for a $30 million+ portfolio of services, including government and private funders. Marion is one of the original architects of the South LA Coordinated Entry System (CES). She developed the SPA 6 Demographic Report to monitor what homelessness looked like in South LA and keep stakeholders informed.
In 2022, she completed a policy fellowship with Urban Leader Fellows, working with the State of Indiana’s Office of the Chief Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity Officer on a plan to embed equity and inclusion into the fabric of state government.
Marion earned her Bachelor of Public Administration from CSU Dominguez Hills, her Master of Public Administration from CSU Long Beach, and her Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California.
Gigi Whitley, Chief Deputy Director for Administration and Finance
Gigi Whitley manages the HSH division responsible for Finance, Contracts, Information Technology, Human Resources, Facilities, and Data and Performance.
Gigi has worked in San Francisco government since 2006, starting in the Mayor’s Budget Office as both an analyst and as Deputy Budget Director. From 2009 to 2014, she served as the Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, implementing the City’s first Housing Trust Fund and protecting more than $100 million in local affordable housing funding after the 2012 dissolution of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. During her tenure, she also worked on funding strategies for the HOPE SF Initiative and the plan to transform public housing in San Francisco. Most recently, she served as the Deputy Director for Administration and Finance at the Office of the Assessor-Recorder.
Gigi holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia. Prior to joining the public sector, she spent her early career as a local newspaper reporter in the Washington, D.C. area.
Anthony Bush, Chief Equity Officer
Anthony Bush is serving as the inaugural Chief Equity Officer for the Department. In this new role he will oversee all the training and equity work conducted by the department. His appointment underscores HSH’s commitment to ensuring equity within the homelessness response system.
Most recently, Anthony was the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at St. Joseph’s Prep, an all-boys Jesuit school in the heart of North Philly. While there, he led student and staff-facing programming that increased community members’ cultural competencies on issues of race, misogyny, sexuality, privilege, and oppression.
Anthony’s passion for social justice began at a young age but was cemented during his senior year of high school when he was selected as a Posse Scholar to attend Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. There he majored in American Studies, and further developed his interest in social justice and identity. His concentration was race, gender, and sexuality. Anthony wrote his senior thesis on how queer black sexuality was silenced in the mainstream media via “No Homo” in hip-hop culture and the DL narrative in film. His thesis advocated for Black Queers to reclaim their voice, and take-up space with increased depictions of successful and nuanced representation in the media.
Anthony is a Los Angeles native, and is very happy being back on the west coast. He hopes his intersectional experience allows him to advocate for substantive change and shift the climate of HSH to ensure our values of Compassion, Courage, and Common-Sense are executed with Equity and Justice at the heart of all we do.
Emily Cohen, Deputy Director for Communications & Legislative Affairs
Emily Cohen serves as the Deputy Director for Communications and Legislative Affairs where she oversees internal and external communications, and legislative affairs.
Prior to rejoining HSH in March 2020, Emily served as Mayor Breed’s Policy Advisor on Homelessness where she focused on local, state, and federal policy to expand and improve the local Homeless Response System. Before joining the Mayor’s office, she was the Manager for Policy and Special Projects at HSH from 2016-2019. In this capacity, she managed government affairs at the local, state, and national levels for the Department. Emily also supported the communications and community relations work of the Department, as well as serving as the Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing, Opportunities, Partnerships, and Engagement (HOPE) under Mayor Ed Lee.
Nikon Guffey, HSH Director of Coordinated Entry, Prevention and Problem Solving
Nikon Guffey is the Director of Coordinated Entry, Prevention, and Problem Solving. She is a Bay Area native who grew up in San Francisco and the Peninsula. She began with the San Francisco Human Services Agency and has over two decades of work experience in social services, as well as non-profit experience as a mental health wellness coordinator. During her time with the San Francisco Human Services Agency she worked closely with family, youth, and young adults and co-lead many dynamic teaming structures, which include the Multi-Agency Services Team (MAST) and the Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) Steering Committee for Family and Children Services. Nikon has also guest lectured at the University of San Francisco, Peralta College, and the College of Marin.
Nikon holds a bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State University in social work; a master’s degree in clinical social work; and is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW). Nikon values collaborative work and believes that with partnership housing insecurity can be rare, brief, and one-time.
Dariush Kayhan, Deputy Director for Programs
Dariush has spent his career focused on housing and homelessness, including holding leadership roles at the San Francisco Human Services Agency, the San Francisco Housing Authority, the Mayor’s Office and currently, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. For over 20 years he has demonstrated his passion for ending homelessness and helping the City achieve its housing justice vision.
While at the Human Services Agency, in addition to managing the homeless system of care, he worked closely with the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and community-based organizations on the development of over 4,000 units of supportive housing, greatly expanding San Francisco’s supportive housing portfolio.
As Director of Homeless Policy for both Mayor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Ed Lee, he was the Mayor’s point person on citywide homeless policy, program development and overall services coordination. In this role, he drove numerous citywide homeless initiatives including implementing Project Homeless Connect, the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team, the Care Not Cash Program and the Hotel Master Lease Program.
While at the Housing Authority, Dariush served on the leadership team that implemented the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and HOPE SF programs, resulting in the rebuild and rehabilitation of over 3000 units of public housing.
During the pandemic, Dariush was one of the COVID Incident Commanders overseeing housing, shelter, and social services delivery to support a 2,000+ unit Shelter in Place (SIP) hotel portfolio, food delivery, shelter, and oversight of community-based organizations. He subsequently supervised the HSH team that managed the operation and demobilization of all 32 SIP hotels.
As Deputy Director for Programs for HSH, Dariush oversees the entire system of care supporting households experiencing homelessness to receive outreach, find shelter, connect to housing or find other solutions to their homelessness, and to remain stable within the department’s portfolio of over 12,000 units of permanent housing.
Salvador Menjivar, Director of Housing
Salvador Menjivar currently serves as the Director of Housing for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. In his position he oversees a portfolio of over 8,000 units of Permanent Supportive Housing and hundreds of housing subsidies under the Rapid Rehousing Program. He also oversees the Housing Ladder program and leads both the Family and Youth Implementation teams within HSH.
Prior to HSH Salvador spent 11 years in the position of Executive Director at Beneficial State Bank Foundation, a socially responsible bank specializing in providing loans that promote affordable housing, renewable energy and financial services in low-income communities. From 1997 to 2007, Salvador served as Executive Director of Hamilton Families in San Francisco, where he pioneered Housing First and Rapid Re-Housing programs for homeless families and individuals. He became a passionate advocate for housing solutions for low income and homeless people during his time as Housing Director and Service Director at Catholic Charities. Salvador holds a degree in Economics and Politics New School University in New York and an M.B.A from the University of San Francisco. He has received several awards, including a local award from the Full Circle Fund for innovation in the development of affordable housing, and a National Achievement Award from the National Alliance to End Homelessness for his work on ending homelessness for families and children. During the last two decades Salvador has served on several Boards of Directors and City Commissions in the cities of San Francisco and Berkeley.