Homelessness has risen 70% in California’s capital. Inside the staggering emergency

On the midterm ballot is Measure O, which would direct the city manager to establish a minimum number of shelter spaces

Sitting on the edge of a collection of about 60 tents pitched alongside the American River, Twana James is doing her best to comfort a friend at the end of her wits.

All day, the woman says, she had been waiting for a caseworker from a Sacramento non-profit to come pick her up and put her on a list for housing. You wait all day for somebody to come and get you and they don't come," she cries in despair.