Using 7.33 fb−1 of e+e− collision data collected by the BESIII detector at center-of-mass energies in the range of s=4.128–4.226 GeV, we search for the rare decays Ds+→h+(h0)e+e−, where h represents a kaon or pion. By requiring the e+e− invariant mass to be consistent with a ϕ(1020), 0.98<M(e+e−)<1.04 GeV/c2, the decay Ds+→π+ϕ, ϕ→e+e− is observed with a statistical significance of 7.8σ, and evidence for the decay Ds+→ρ+ϕ, ϕ→e+e− is found for the first time with a statistical significance of 4.4σ. The decay branching fractions are measured to be B(Ds+→π+ϕ,ϕ→e+e−)=(1.17−0.21+0.23±0.03)×10−5, and B(Ds+→ρ+ϕ,ϕ→e+e−)=(2.44−0.62+0.67±0.16)×10−5, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. No significant signals for the three four-body decays of Ds+→π+π0e+e−, Ds+→K+π0e+e−, and Ds+→KS0π+e+e− are observed. For Ds+→π+π0e+e−, the ϕ mass region is vetoed to minimize the long-distance effects. The 90% confidence level upper limits set on the branching fractions of these decays are in the range of (7.0–8.1)×10−5. Published by the American Physical Society 2024