Cupertino Chamber President Claudio Bono Invited to The White House with GiveaRoof.org’s 3-Year Plan to End Homelessness

GiveaRoof.org founder presents a private-sector model built around Welcome Centers, triage-shared intake, coordinated nonprofit resources, healthcare partnerships, hotel capacity, and donated travel rewards

 

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 31, 2026 — Claudio Bono, President of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce and founder of GiveaRoof.org, was invited to the White House on Tuesday, August 25, to present a privately funded proposal aimed at ending street homelessness in the United States within three years without introducing new taxes.

Bono’s invitation followed his continued efforts to bring attention to a private-sector approach to homelessness that combines existing hospitality capacity, donated travel rewards, coordinated nonprofit resources, healthcare partnerships, and centralized case management.

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

Bono characterized the proposal as an opportunity for a Domestic Policy Legacy Win, arguing that a coordinated private-sector model could produce measurable reductions in street homelessness within a presidential term without requiring a new federal appropriation.

“Three years. That is the clock,” Bono said. “Welcome Centers and a federal database first, hotels second, and only for individuals who have been vetted and prepared. For those who need clinical care, we are ready to partner with the medical world so casework gets them the treatment they actually need. We also need to stop paying multiple organizations to perform the same intake on the same person. That is a Domestic Policy Legacy Win the White House can own.”

Bono, a Cupertino resident and hospitality executive, is proposing a broader restructuring of how participating nonprofits, healthcare providers, hotels, and other organizations coordinate resources around people experiencing homelessness.

Rather than replacing existing organizations, the GiveaRoof.org model calls for participating groups to operate through a more unified system for intake, case coordination, and resource sharing. Bono argues that greater coordination could reduce duplication among service providers while creating greater accountability for funding, donated resources, and individual outcomes.

 

 

United Airlines Partnership Puts the Model Into Action

A central component of Bono’s proposal is already being tested through GiveaRoof.org’s relationship with United Airlines.

In June, GiveaRoof.org announced an official partnership with United Airlines through the airline’s MileagePlus Miles on a Mission program, creating a dedicated channel through which MileagePlus members can donate miles to support the organization’s mission.

A 30-day initiative generated over 500,000 donated miles, demonstrating that members of the public are willing to contribute unused travel assets when given a straightforward mechanism to do so.

“One founder. One airline partnership. More than half a million miles,” Bono said. “That tells us something important. People will give when you make it easy for them to participate. Now imagine opening that opportunity across airlines, hotels, credit-card rewards programs, corporations, and millions of individual account holders.”

Bono is advocating for federal tax changes that would expand corporate participation by airlines, hotel groups, and other loyalty-program operators. His proposal calls for updates to Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code so that qualifying corporate donations of airline miles and hotel loyalty points receive charitable-deduction treatment based on fair market value.

The goal is to give corporations such as United, American, IHG, and Marriott a clear tax incentive to redirect unused rewards into shelter and related services, rather than allowing those points to expire unused.

This 30-day fundraiser was not promoted nationally, yet it surpassed the 500,000-mile threshold, showing that one person can make a difference when people are given a simple and accessible way to contribute.

Bono believes this early result demonstrates the potential for a broader model involving airlines, hotel companies, credit-card rewards programs, corporations, and individual loyalty-program members.

How the GiveaRoof.org Model Would Work

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

• Centralized Welcome Centers and intake: A triage-shared intake and case-management system designed to create one coordinated record for each participant and reduce duplication among participating organizations.


• Clinical screening and referrals: Individuals requiring mental-health, substance-use, or other clinical intervention would be connected with appropriate healthcare professionals rather than being placed directly into hotels.


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


• Coordinated transition services: Case management would focus on employment assistance, transportation, family reconnection, and pathways toward longer-term housing stability.


• Private-sector resources and accountability: Donated airline miles, hotel points, and other loyalty rewards would be incorporated into a system designed to track resources, expenditures, and participant outcomes.

The Welcome Centers would also provide practical assistance including food, showers, clothing, grooming, and other basic services before individuals transition to hotels or other appropriate programs.

Bono said the objective is to establish a clearer path for each individual rather than treating homelessness as a single problem with a single solution.

“Screen, prepare, place, treat and track,” Bono said. “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 should know where the individual is in that process.”

Healthcare Partnerships Form a Separate Pathway

An important distinction in the GiveaRoof.org proposal is that hotel accommodation is not intended as the appropriate intervention for every individual experiencing homelessness.

People experiencing an active mental-health crisis, severe substance-use issues, or other conditions requiring clinical intervention would instead be directed toward qualified healthcare providers and appropriate treatment.

GiveaRoof.org says it is prepared to work with hospitals, clinics, psychiatrists, addiction specialists, and caseworkers to develop this component of the model. Bono also points to the broader effort to connect healthcare, housing, and community-based assistance.

This triage system is intended to prevent individuals requiring medical or behavioral-health treatment from simply being transferred from the street into a hotel without appropriate support.

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 for the individual, providing temporary accommodation, food, and internet access. By the eighth night, the man had reconnected with his family and subsequently left to reunite with them.

The experience led Bono, a hospitality industry veteran, to consider whether unused hotel inventory and loyalty rewards could be incorporated into homelessness programs on a much larger scale.

For Bono, the experience demonstrated that temporary accommodation can serve as an intervention point rather than an end in itself when combined with a path toward family reconnection, employment, treatment, or permanent housing.

Building a More Coordinated Nonprofit Model

Beyond temporary accommodation, GiveaRoof.org’s proposal calls for participating nonprofits and service providers to share information and resources through a coordinated system.

Bono argues that the existing structure can result in different organizations separately performing intake, case management, and other services for the same individuals. His proposal seeks to reduce that duplication through a shared record and coordinated case-management structure while providing greater visibility into how resources are being used.

“The current nonprofit model needs a reset,” Bono said. “GiveaRoof.org’s approach is to unify organizations, share resources and follow every dollar and every donated asset. If we can see who was helped, what resources were used and what happened next, we can begin measuring outcomes instead of simply measuring activity.”

Bono has also presented elements of the GiveaRoof.org model through a League of Women Voters civic-education program, discussing how Welcome Centers, screening, hotel placement, and donated travel rewards could operate as parts of a coordinated system.

Prior to bringing the proposal to federal officials in Washington, Bono had also sought to engage policymakers in California around elements of the homelessness model, but never heard back from Sacramento.

From The Homelessness Fix to a National Proposal

Bono has detailed many of the ideas underlying GiveaRoof.org in his book, The Homelessness Fix: How to Save the World While Everyone Else Argues About It.

The book reached No. 1 in an Amazon Kindle Poverty & Social Issues category in December 2025 and subsequently ranked No. 1 in additional Amazon categories including Social Policy, Philanthropy & Charity, and Social Work during the week of August 17-21, 2026, according to ranking information provided by Bono.

The White House invitation represents the latest stage in Bono’s effort to move those ideas from advocacy toward implementation.

“United already opened the door. The public has already donated more than half a million miles,” Bono said. “The resources exist. The hotels exist. The nonprofits exist. The medical expertise exists. The challenge is bringing those pieces together into one accountable system with a deadline.”

Bono maintains that the three-year objective is deliberately ambitious and should be judged against measurable outcomes.

“If money cannot be followed, it should not be spent,” Bono said. “We need to know who was helped, what resources were used, and whether they actually moved off the street. That is how we turn this from another homelessness program into a Domestic Policy Legacy Win without raising taxes.”

GiveaRoof – Evertise  Official Media Partnership

GiveaRoof.org and Evertise AI Newswire have officially joined forces as media partners to expand the visibility of GiveaRoof.org’s mission, initiatives, partnerships, and ongoing work to address street homelessness.

As the organization’s Official Media Partner, Evertise will support GiveaRoof.org and Claudio Bono with media distribution, communications, and amplification of key announcements and milestones across business, financial, nonprofit, social-impact, hospitality, and international media.

The partnership builds on the collaboration already established through Evertise’s support of GiveaRoof.org’s previous announcements and press releases and represents a continued commitment by both organizations to bring the GiveaRoof.org mission to a wider audience.

Through this official partnership, GiveaRoof.org and Evertise AI Newswire will work together to amplify the organization’s message, strengthen awareness of its initiatives, and expand the national and international conversation around its approach to ending street homelessness.

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.

Claudio Bono serves as Hotel Managing Director of The Cupertino Hotel and The Grand Hotel Sunnyvale for De Anza Properties, two deluxe boutique hotels in the heart of Silicon Valley.

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.

Media Contact

Nathan Tran

Nathan@pac3marketing.com

408.813.0666

Claudio Bono

Founder, GiveaRoof.org

President, Cupertino Chamber of Commerce

Hotel Managing Director, The Cupertino Hotel & The Grand Hotel Sunnyvale – De Anza Properties