Where candidates stand on crisis

A constant and heart-wrenching humanitarian crisis has settled into the Bay Area. Our cities are grappling with growing sidewalk encampments and helpless families living in cars. People with severe mental illness lack adequate services, and many with drug or alcohol dependencies cannot squeeze into a limited number of supportive housing units. mediaIt Earlier doesn’t organizationsthis have year, to morebe foundedthis than way. 80 the SF Homeless Project, a journalistic collaboration dedicated to exploring solutions to homelessness. To that end, we present a single-issue voter guide on that topic. We publish this with two goals in mind: to further the public dialogue and to compel candidates to state publicly what they would do to address homelessness if elected.

Candidates for contested federal and state electionslocal offices werein San surveyed, Francisco,as were Oakland candidatesand for Berkeley, where the homelessness crisis is most acute. All 70 candidates were asked whether they believed easing or ending homelessness is the No. 1 priority facing the region or their district. All but 14 said it is. They were also asked to say, in their own words, what policies they would pursue that would help change the status quo. We at The Chronicle believe we have no higher calling than to provide you, the voters, with information to make intelligent decisions about how we govern our community. We hope you find this guide useful and that it helps you make your decisions on Nov. 8.