The Japan Times - Cupertino Chamber President Claudio Bono Invited to White House with GiveaRoof 3-Year Plan to End Homelessness

Claudio Bono, President of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce and founder of GiveaRoof.org, was invited to the White House this week to present a privately funded proposal aimed at ending street homelessness in the United States within three years without introducing new taxes.

The proposal centers on a national network of Welcome Centers, a shared intake and case-management system, medical and behavioral-health referrals, short-term hotel placement for screened participants, and donated airline miles, hotel points, and credit-card rewards to support transportation and temporary accommodation.

Rather than replacing existing organizations, the GiveaRoof.org model would coordinate participating nonprofits, healthcare providers, hotels, and other partners through one system designed to reduce duplicated services and provide greater accountability for funding, donated resources, and individual outcomes.

"Three years. That is the clock," said Claudio Bono, founder of GiveaRoof.org and president of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce. "Welcome Centers and a shared database come first, with hotels reserved for people who have been screened and prepared. Those who need clinical care should be connected with professionals who can provide the treatment they need. The goal is a measurable domestic policy achievement that does not require new taxes."

United Airlines Partnership Puts the Model Into Action

A central component of the proposal is already being tested through GiveaRoof.org's relationship with United Airlines. In June, the organization announced an official partnership through United's MileagePlus Miles on a Mission program, creating a dedicated channel for members to donate miles.

A 30-day initiative generated more than 500,000 donated miles, demonstrating public willingness to contribute unused travel assets through a straightforward mechanism.

"One founder. One airline partnership. More than half a million miles," said Claudio Bono, founder of GiveaRoof.org and president of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce. "Now imagine extending that opportunity across airlines, hotels, credit-card rewards programs, corporations, and millions of individual account holders."

Bono is also advocating for changes to Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code that would allow qualifying corporate donations of airline miles and hotel loyalty points to receive charitable-deduction treatment based on fair market value. The proposed change is intended to encourage airlines, hotel groups, and other loyalty-program operators to redirect unused rewards toward shelter and related services.

How the GiveaRoof.org Model Would Work

Bono's three-year proposal is organized around five connected components intended to move individuals from the street toward appropriate shelter, treatment, and longer-term stability:

·      Centralized Welcome Centers and intake: One coordinated record for each participant to reduce repeated intake and case-management work.

·      Clinical screening and referrals: People requiring mental-health, substance-use, or other clinical intervention would be connected with qualified healthcare providers.

·      Temporary hotel accommodation: Screened participants considered ready for hotel placement could receive short-term stays supported by donated resources and participating organizations.

·      Coordinated transition services: Case management would focus on employment, transportation, family reconnection, treatment, and pathways toward stable housing.

·      Private-sector resources and accountability: Donated travel rewards and other resources would be tracked alongside expenditures and participant outcomes.

Welcome Centers would also provide food, showers, clothing, grooming, and other basic assistance before participants transition to hotels, healthcare providers, or other appropriate programs.

"Screen, prepare, place, treat, and track," said Claudio Bono, founder of GiveaRoof.org and president of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce. "Welcome Centers take care of people first. The medical community handles those who need care. Hotels receive guests who are ready for that environment, and every participating organization can see where the individual is in the process."

The 10-Night Stay That Helped Shape the Proposal

Bono traces part of the GiveaRoof.org concept to an experience involving a man living on the street in Cupertino. Using his own rewards points, Bono funded a 10-night hotel stay that included temporary accommodation, food, and internet access. By the eighth night, the man had reconnected with his family and later left to reunite with them.

The experience led Bono, a hospitality executive who manages two Silicon Valley hotels, to consider how unused hotel inventory and loyalty rewards could support homelessness programs on a larger scale. In his view, temporary accommodation can become an intervention point when combined with family reconnection, employment assistance, clinical treatment, or a pathway to permanent housing.

A Coordinated and Accountable National Proposal

GiveaRoof.org's proposal calls for participating service providers to share information and resources through a coordinated case-management structure. Bono argues that this could reduce instances in which multiple organizations separately perform intake and related services for the same person while making it easier to follow how resources are used.

"If money cannot be followed, it should not be spent," said Claudio Bono, founder of GiveaRoof.org and president of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce. "We need to know who was helped, what resources were used, and whether that person moved off the street. The hotels, nonprofits, medical expertise, and donated resources already exist. The challenge is bringing those pieces together in one accountable system with a deadline."

Bono has detailed the ideas underlying GiveaRoof.org in his book, The Homelessness Fix: How to Save the World While Everyone Else Argues About It. According to ranking information provided by Bono, the book reached No. 1 in several Amazon Kindle categories related to poverty, social policy, philanthropy, and social work between December 2025 and August 2026.

The White House presentation represents the latest stage in Bono's effort to move the proposal from advocacy toward national implementation. He maintains that its three-year objective is deliberately ambitious and should be evaluated against measurable outcomes. 

About Claudio Bono

Claudio Bono is a Cupertino resident, President of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce, President of the Cupertino Historical Society, a Commissioner on the City of Cupertino Parks & Recreation Commission, and a member of the city's Economic Development Committee. He serves as Hotel Managing Director of The Cupertino Hotel and The Grand Hotel Sunnyvale for De Anza Properties.

Bono is the founder of the 501(c)(3) GiveaRoof.org and author of The Homelessness Fix: How to Save the World While Everyone Else Argues About It. GiveaRoof.org focuses on using private-sector resources, donated travel rewards, coordinated services, and temporary accommodation as components of its proposed approach to homelessness.

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Source article: https://financewire.com/2026/09/02/cupertino-chamber-president-claudio-bono-invited-to-white-house-with-givearoof-3-year-plan-to-end-homelessness/

T.Kobayashi--JT