Christian Shaughnessy

Candidate for City Council Member, San Bernardino, District 2 · Housing Specialist

Christian Shaughnessy is a housing specialist and homelessness-services professional who works full time in San Bernardino's Second Ward. His commitment to community change grew in part from the 2019 killing of a close friend, Nitesh Kumar, a few blocks from his childhood home. He chairs the San Bernardino County Youth Coordinated Entry System, serves as staff liaison to the county's Youth Advisory Board on Homelessness and Substance Abuse, and co-chairs the county's Youth Homeless Task Force; he has led a homeless-youth motel-voucher program in partnership with the city. He is a City Commissioner on the General Plan Advisory Committee, a member of the San Bernardino County Human Rights Coalition and of ChICCCAA, operates a small tutoring and mentoring business, and has worked as an educator both domestically and internationally. He attended Pacific High School, San Bernardino Valley College — where he co-chaired MEChA — and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Shaughnessy wants to address homelessness by investing in mental health services, expanding affordable housing, creating jobs, and holding negligent landlords accountable. On public safety, he supports strengthening the Violence Intervention Program, hiring more detectives, expanding services for crime victims, combating human trafficking, and improving animal shelter conditions. On blight, he calls for more code enforcement officers and stronger enforcement of housing law to protect tenants from exploitation. He also wants an ambitious, accountable street-repair and traffic-safety program, and supports fair wages, apprenticeship programs, transparent zoning, and wage protections for warehouse workers so they can afford to live in the cities where they work.

Profiles are compiled from the candidate’s own statements and public records. We never tell you how to vote.