San Francisco has elected Matt Dorsey, who is living with HIV, to the city’s Board of Supervisors. As a supervisor, Dorsey will aim to address some of the city’s most daunting challenges, such as homelessness, addiction, safety and open-air drug markets. As someone who openly discusses his own struggles with addiction and understands the needs of the LGBTQ and HIV communities, Dorsey says he is the right person to tackle these issues.

Although Dorsey is the first person living with HIV elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, he’s not the first one to serve on the board. That would be HIV advocate Jeff Sheehy, who was appointed in 2017 to replace Scott Wiener as District 8 supervisor.

Nor will this be Dorsey’s first time serving as District 6 supervisor—he currently holds the post. Mayor London Breed appointed Dorsey to the position in May after the previous supervisor, Matt Haney, vacated the seat to join the State Assembly.

District 6 is a hub of billion-dollar tech giants and iconic skyscrapers, like the Salesforce and Millennium towers. The district includes the neighborhoods South of Market (SoMa), Mission Bay, Treasure Island and the Tenderloin. SoMa and the Tenderloin have reported the majority of the city’s overdose deaths in the past two years.

Safety remains a top issue for District 6, Dorsey told KRON4 News before the election, saying a lot of the district’s safety issues are related to open-air drug dealing, homelessness, addiction and the mental health crisis.

“I’m tired of people dying. I’m tired of our city dying,” Dorsey said in a campaign ad. “We’re standing idly by as drug dealers dish out fentanyl to anyone, killing nearly 1,700 San Franciscans since 2020. No more looking the other way. Drug dealers need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and we must give people real opportunities for recovery. I personally struggled with addiction for years. I was fortunate to recover. Only when we all say enough is enough will the city we love recover too.”