According to the San Francisco Chronicle, tech billionaire Marc Benioff the owner of Salesforce, is set to announce that he will be donating $6.1 million to turn a distressed hotel in the Ternderloin district into affordable housing. What used to be The Bristol Hotel will be offering 58 spacious, refurbished rooms in February with the future occupants selected from supportive housing facilities. Rents will range from $500 to $650 a month. “This is just the beginning of what I hope will be a parade of the type of investments that have been identified by the Proposition C campaign,” said Benioff.
Benioff donated millions of dollars of personal and corporate money to help pass a new business tax this month that would raise $300 million annually for homeless programs. “This project at the Bristol is a great example of that. We can do this.”
Benioff said that while he was discussing the measure before the election with Mayor London Breed — who opposed it — she asked him to help with the Bristol. He quickly agreed to donate the money with his wife, Lynne Benioff.
“When you give a person a home, everything gets better,” Benioff said. “It’s the fundamental catalyst to improving a person’s livelihood.” Breed said the city will be leasing the hotel from its owner, and after Benioff’s five-year donation to pay that lease runs out, either San Francisco’s budget will pick up the cost or a new donation will be found.
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