CA-16: Sam Liccardo (D)
Sam Liccardo is running for Congress to focus Washington on the big issues like homelessness, crime, and the punishing cost of living. To a Congress that has been called the least productive in decades, Liccardo says “Let’s Get it Done!” on the problems that matter most to the Peninsula, Silicon Valley, and the Coastside.
As Mayor of San José, the Bay Area’s largest city, Liccardo’s innovative efforts to confront homelessness include pioneering the conversion of motels to housing in 2016, four years prior to California adopting it as a statewide model. He piloted the development of quick-build prefabricated housing communities that were constructed at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional apartments, helping thousands come off the streets.
Liccardo also launched a successful program that employs unhoused residents cleaning the city in exchange for housing and pay (“San José Bridge”). Though San José long struggled with growing homelessness, it became one of the very few California cities to reduce street homelessness in Liccardo’s final year in office, 2022.
In the year since he completed his two terms serving San José’s one million residents as mayor, Liccardo has taught several classes at Stanford University focusing on urban solutions to homelessness, violent crime, and climate change. He also worked with a diverse group of stakeholders to launch and lead the “FAIR California” coalition, battling PG&E rate hikes and pushing for greater accountability of spending ratepayer money.
He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Georgetown University. His published works have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and other national publications. He and his wife, Jessica García-Kohl, live in San José.
The above information was sourced from the candidate’s website.
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