Marisa Kendall

Marisa Kendall covers California’s homelessness crisis for CalMatters. With more than six years of experience navigating this complex topic, Marisa has won multiple awards for her sensitive, comprehensive coverage. She strives to provide nuanced, in-depth reporting that both explains convoluted California policy and highlights the stories of people on the street affected by Sacramento’s decisions.

A Bay Area native, Marisa lives in West Oakland. But her reporting has taken her all over the state – and beyond. She traveled to Los Angeles to investigate whether Mayor Karen Bass’ high-profile solution to homelessness was working. She even went as far as Texas to determine why Houston’s homeless population had decreased dramatically over the past decade.

Before joining CalMatters, Marisa covered housing and homelessness for the Bay Area News Group (including The Mercury News and East Bay Times), where she was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the deadly Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland. Prior to that, she covered high-stakes court cases in Silicon Valley for The Recorder. Marisa started her career covering crime and mayhem in Southwest Florida for The News-Press. She’s a graduate of American University, and enjoys swimming, biking and reading novels when she’s not out on assignment. 

Other languages spoken: Spanish (Intermediate)