One of the major hot-button issues that troubles San Diego voters is homelessness, which — despite more than $2 billion in local and county funds distributed to area homeless service organizations since 2015 — has only grown worse.

Local service providers say there is no blanket solution for solving the homeless problem because the unhoused are a diverse population facing myriad challenges beyond high housing costs. So who are San Diegos homeless? Another Day in Paradise, a new play that opened Thursday in Coronado, has given them the opportunity to tell their own stories.

The 100-minute, intermission-less play with music was researched and written by Blindspot executive artistic director Blake McCarty and producing artist Shellina Heffner, with a rock n roll score and musical direction by Taylor Lehmkuhl.

McCarty (who also directs the production) and Heffner interviewed 100 homeless San Diegans of all ages, genders and ethnicities. Nine actors use the interviewees exact words and experiences to portray 19 fictional characters who talk and sing about the reasons they ended up on San Diegos streets.

A scene from Blindspot Collectives Another Day in Paradise. (Blindspot Collective)

Paradise is not a traditional play with dialogue and a story arc. Its a documentary play, where characters in groups of two, three or four tell their story in direct address to the audience and occasionally join together in song. Paradise would be a good educational and fund-raising vehicle for homeless charities and schools, but its content is too mature for pre-teens.

Although each characters story in Paradise is unique, there are many common threads.

Virtually all of the characters are survivors of childhood abuse, trauma and neglect. Some were orphaned, grew up in foster care or lived with parents who were addicts. Many found comfort and escape in alcohol and drugs and several have repeatedly cycled in and out of the prison system.

Most of the women characters have survived countless sexual assaults and rapes, and a few say they accept the reality of occasionally trading their body to strangers for a good nights sleep indoors. Only a couple characters in Paradise are native San Diegans. The rest came here from places like Florida, Guatemala, Mexico, the Philippines, New Hampshire or elsewhere in search of work, family, love or warm weather.

While their stories are moving and compelling, theyre not necessarily surprising. As a result, the best moments in Paradise are the unexpected ones.

Theres Evangeline (touchingly played by Dacara Seward), a Filipina senior who came to San Diego with her husband decades ago. When he was dying, she spent through their savings on his care, lost their home and ended up in a shelter. Theres Tammy (played with blunt honesty by Velvet Teressa Salgado), a 53-year-old NYU grad who moved to San Diego to care for her mother and lost everything.

Theres Jim (empathetically played by Josiah Lopez), an Air Force veteran and real estate agent whose addictions scuttled his life over and over. And excellent actor Nathan Nonhof plays two homeless Black men — the Senegal-born Muslim Kian and Florida military veteran Moses, who say police harassment and racism impacted their ability to feel safe and find steady work in San Diego.

While its a dark show, there is some levity delivered by the character Baby (hilariously played by Tash Gomez), the Bronx-born trans model/escort/sex worker who makes the best of her bad situation with humor and moxie.

Rounding out the cast are Jasper Capalad, Cole Chinn, Josalyn Elisabeth and Aiden Meyndert. Kyle Waterman designed the scenery, Sierra Shreves the lighting, Cole Atencio the sound and Hannah Frederick the costumes.

San Diego may be be paradise, but it is also one of the most expensive places to live in America. Blindspots Another Day in Paradise doesnt offer solutions to the problem, but it opens the door for empathy.

As part of this production, Blindspot is encouraging audience members to bring canned goods, shelf-stable package foods, blankets and gently-used backpacks that will be donated to local homeless service organizations.

‘Another Day in Paradise’

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through Nov. 24

Where: Blindspot Collective at the Coronado Playhouse, 1835 Strand Way, Coronado

Tickets: $30

Online: blindspotcollective.org