Haute 100 San Francisco Update: Jennifer Siebel & Mayor Gavin Newsom

Our Haute 100 list details the accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets—Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These people continue to make moves, so rather than waiting for the next Haute 100 issue to come out, we thought we’d provide you with regular updates on those Haute 100 members who are making headlines. Check back daily for more info on the most powerful people in your city. Mayor Gavin Newsom leaves his San Francisco office with his legacy: Project Homeless Connect.

Jennifer Siebel & Gavin Newsom

Category: Power Couples

Company: City of San Francisco

Industry: Politics

What Made Them Haute: When Newsom was elected to his current position as mayor of San Francisco in 2003 at the age of 36, he was the youngest man to take on that role in more than 100 years, and he quickly made national headlines when he granted marriage licenses to same-sex couples after only 36 days in the office. He and his beautiful wife Jennifer, a former actress, welcomed their first child, a baby girl, in September 2009. The First Lady of San Francisco supports a number of local philanthropies and institutions, and the couple can often be found attending the city’s highest profile events.

What Makes Him Haute Now: Since coming into office in 2003, Gavin Newsroom set his sights reducing homelessness in San Francisco through the program Project Homeless Connect. Seven years later, Newsroom has announced the permanent address of the project, making this one of his biggest achievements while mayor of San Francisco.

Launched six years ago, Project Homeless Connect has been hugely successful,  reducing homelessness by 40 percent and helping more than 40,000 homeless people since then. Services in the program include dental care, HIV testing, substance abuse treatment, legal advice, voice mail, job placement and needle exchanges. And though it might seem like an expensive endeavor, Newsroom saw it was a more economic alternative to providing emergency care. And so the project continues even after Newsroom leaves office. “We must continue to make progress on homelessness, and the new permanent home for Project Homeless Connect will help ensure we keep moving in the right direction,” he says.

So far, more than 200 cities around the world are looking at duplicating the program.

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