California Treasurer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Chiang swung through San Francisco Friday to accept an official endorsement from Supervisor Norman Yee and to unveil the outlines of his plan to tackle the state’s affordable housing and homelessness crises.

Standing on the steps of City Hall, Yee praised what he called Chiang’s enduring commitment to pragmatic political reform in the 13 years the two have known each other. Their political priorities have long overlapped, Yee said, when it comes to issues of “child care, investing in education, growing jobs at every level of the workforce and supporting affordable housing throughout the state.”

“We don’t need slick politicians and empty suits — we need solutions,” Yee said. “John does not write checks he knows he cannot cash. We deserve a progressive leader we can trust, who will continue to fight for our economy without breaking the bank.”

In a briskly delivered speech before a small crowd, Chiang, who has been the state treasurer since 2014, called California’s dearth of affordable housing “a full-blown crisis” and sketched out several solutions centered on finding new sources of funding for affordable housing, giving local governments incentives to expand permitting for more housing and encouraging increased construction of affordable units by the private sector.

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Chiang has set a goal of finding stable housing for 4 million low- and moderate-income Californians over the next 10 years.

“This election cycle, California truly has an opportunity to change its course of action and elect a governor that not only strives for progressive policy, but one who has the experience to make responsible economic decisions,” Chiang said.

Across the state, Chiang said, cities “are perversely incentivized to chase sales tax revenue from auto malls and big-box retail shops, rather than build housing.” To change that, Chiang proposed creating a “carrot-and-stick” system that offers cities additional state funding for housing production. He also encouraged cities to take a hard look at zoning laws that are holding back the construction of more housing stock.

Chiang said that, as governor, he would seek to “spur the production of mixed-income rental housing” with a variety of property tax exemptions for developers of market-rate housing “that include at least 20 percent affordable-housing units.”

When it comes to addressing homelessness, Chiang has proposed creating what he called “a statewide rapid-response housing program to mitigate situations that lead to homelessness and shelter those in immediate need.” The program would provide financial assistance for security and utility deposits, rental assistance for up to 18 months, assistance paying utility bills, and moving costs and vouchers for motels and hotels.

“The issue of affordable housing is so important because every Californian has a right to an affordable and decent place that they can call home,” Chiang said.

Despite nearly 20 years in public office, Chiang’s low-visibility roles — he was a member of the state Board of Equalization and the state controller before becoming treasurer — have made it difficult for him to keep up with his Democratic rivals in the race to replace termed-out Gov. Jerry Brown next year. Chiang has been on a yearlong “campaign road trip” to combat that.

A Nov. 30 poll by the Public Policy Institute of California put Chiang at a distant third behind Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom 23 percent of voters said they’d vote for, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, with 18 percent. Just 9 percent of the poll’s respondents said they’d pick Chiang.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa