Giants, Airbnb Go to Bat for Homeless

Tomiquia Moss of Hamilton Families embraces Kristen Berlacher of Airbnb, which has partnered with the Giants to give $300,000 to help Moss’ program. Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle • Sep. 23, 2017 • By Heather Knight

A visit to AT&T Park tends to revolve around the fun and lighthearted — the pungent smell of garlic fries, glimpses of Lou Seal, griping about the price of beer, cheering on the Giants even if this year’s team has been less than inspiring.

But this season has also included a more serious component: homelessness. I got an up-close look during Wednesday’s game against the Rockies (4-0 win for the Giants!) at the sixth pregame ceremony this year that revolved around family homelessness and highlighted the Giants’ partnership with Airbnb to give $300,000 to the cause.

In addition, a video about the subject has played on the big scoreboard before every home game. The Giants magazine has run editorials about it, and fans are constantly told how they can donate. (Text “home” to 91999.)

San Franciscans are surrounded by in-your-face homelessness every day, and a trip to the ballpark may be the last place you want to hear more about it. But kudos to the Giants for, um, stepping up to the plate and joining an increasingly long list of private companies helping fund the fight against homelessness. Because if there’s one thing that should be obvious by now, it’s that City Hall is nowhere near capable of solving this frustrating problem on its own.

Giants CEO and President Larry Baer, a San Francisco native who attended public schools as a kid, said he was struck by the statistic that there are 1,800 homeless children in the city’s public schools. On average, that’s about one per classroom.

“On a human level, it’s unacceptable,” he said. “Our big thing is we have a megaphone, and we can get the message out.”

It might seem like a city that’s spending a mind-boggling $305 million this year on homelessness — a good chunk of its $10 billion budget — couldn’t possibly need any more money. But, believe it or not, Jeff Kositsky, director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said the city could “absolutely not” do its work without the extra private money.

Kositsky said that as the federal and state governments have largely shirked their responsibility to fund homelessness programs, it’s essential that private companies help out. He said the recent uptick in outside help can probably be attributed to the mayor’s creation of the new department, thereby signaling a renewed focus on tackling the problem, and that homelessness is so much more visible now because development has driven homeless people out into the open.

“San Francisco is suffering a collective heartbreak at seeing so many people out on the streets suffering,” Kositsky said. “San Franciscans, like with so many other social issues, when they see a problem they step up to help.”

And what a big problem it is. This year’s homeless count found 7,499 homeless people in San Francisco. (Don’t try dividing $305 million by that number to come up with the per-person spending. Large portions of the money go toward funding formerly homeless people living in supportive housing and eviction defense programs to keep others from becoming homeless.)

The Tipping Point Community charitable organization pledged $100 million in May to attempt to cut the chronically homeless population in half in the next five years. Two of the city’s Navigation Centers — modernized homeless shelters with case managers and relaxed rules — were funded with private money. (The first center’s donor remains anonymous — even Kositsky says he doesn’t know who it is. Do you? I’d love to know!)

The city got technical help from private companies, including Zendesk and Stripe, to set up its data system for keeping track of homeless people and the services they receive. Google donated tech support, as well as $1 million for the data system. Other private companies have helped fund veterans’ housing.

The $300,000 from the Giants and Airbnb is tagged for the Heading Home campaign, run by Hamilton Families, a nonprofit that provides shelter and other services for homeless parents and kids. Announced in December, the public-private partnership seeks to raise $30 million to house 800 families and eradicate family homelessness within three years, and create a system in which newly homeless families can be housed immediately rather than languishing on the streets or in shelters.

Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, and wife Lynne Benioff have pledged $10 million to the Heading Home campaign. Other donations have come from angel investor Ron Conway, the Hellman Foundation, Google and the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund.

The Giants and Airbnb committed $1,000 for every run scored by the team at AT&T Park this season. Before the season, the Giants and Airbnb said they’d contribute up to a total of $300,000 — $50,000 from the team, and $250,000 from the home rental company — which at the time seemed like a ceiling rather than a goal.

“The only way we haven’t held up our part of the bargain is we haven’t scored 300 runs yet!” Baer lamented before Wednesday’s game, his head literally in his hands.

At that point, they’d only scored 297 runs, but they were up to 301 by the end of the game, meaning the full $300,000 would indeed be donated. (And, let’s face it, for the the Giants and Airbnb, that’s chump change. Let’s see a bigger commitment next year. One dollar per every beer sold? Now that would add up.)

Tomiquia Moss, the executive director of Hamilton Families, came to Wednesday’s game dressed in a fabulous long coat in the team’s orange. She said the private money is especially helpful because it comes with few strings attached.

The nonprofit is using it to take a more regional approach to solving homelessness. Before, if the nonprofit was able to find less-expensive digs for a family in the far reaches of Contra Costa County or Sacramento, it would pretty much consider its job done. Moss said her group is now trying to continue supporting families even outside the city’s borders until they are truly back on their feet.

“Homelessness is feeling like everyone’s issue,” Moss said. “If you live in this city and care about people, it’s really hard not to get involved.”

With a twinkle in her eye, she said the Golden State Warriors have also expressed interest in contributing to the Heading Home campaign — she’ll have a long blue and yellow coat ready should the partnership become official. (“You know that’s my people, girl!” she said with a laugh.)

I also hereby pledge to attend a pregame ceremony about homelessness at the Warriors’ arena. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it.