Marc Benioff, the billionaire chief executive officer of Salesforce, has donated a whopping $30 million to study the root causes of homelessness. Benioff’s wife, Lynne, was also a part of these efforts, with the donation being given to the University of California San Francisco (UCSF).
CBS reports that the donated amount will be named after Benioff, with the research center taking root in the heart of San Francisco. Aptly named as the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, the center aims to study the causes of homelessness and by extension, ways to end this crisis. Yahoo! States that the research will be led by Dr. Margot Kushel, taken under the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations.
A Pressing Issue
Marc was born and raised in the city of San Francisco. In recent years, the state has experienced a boom in its economy, with Benioff being considered as the largest employer in the city through Salesforce.
In the past year, Benioff has decided to use his reach by promoting Proposition C. According to CNN, this program would tax huge companies in the city and the money from the taxes being used to address homelessness.
In the whole of the United States, a more than 550,000 live on the streets every single night, with rising housing costs and income inequality being the main causes. In California alone, CNN reports that more than 129,000 people are living without a roof over their heads every night. In the city, the number racks up to more than 4,000 a night.
With this generous gift and the aid of world-class research through the UCSF, policymakers will gain more access to tools and information that can readily solve this problem. Through this initiative, cities and governments can help enact laws that will address and curtail homelessness.
