U.S. hi-tech company pledges 50 mln USD to combat homelessness in Silicon Valley area

SAN FRANCISCO, March 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. hi-tech company Cisco Systems Inc. (Cisco) has committed 50 million U.S. dollars over the next five years to help end homelessness in Santa Clara County, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said Monday.

Robbins wrote in his official blog post that homelessness has risen to a crisis level in the Bay Area, particularly in Santa Clara County, home to Silicon Valley where many high-tech firms are headquartered. Cisco has been headquartered there for over 30 years.

"Today, Cisco is proud to announce a five-year, 50 million dollar commitment to Destination: Home, a San Jose-based public-private partnership," which will help build more housing for the most vulnerable residents and improve technology capacity across the homeless services sector, Robbins said.

In Santa Clara County, approximately 7,400 people are homeless and 2,000 are considered chronically homeless -- the third-highest rate of chronic homelessness in the United States.

Addressing homelessness and the issues it raises costs Santa Clara County about 520 million dollars every year, Robbins said.

Cisco's unprecedented commitment is "a smart, long-term investment" that will allow Destination: Home to buy land, build additional housing and to pioneer technology solutions around homelessness, he said.

Cisco "is stepping up in a big way to provide the type of critical private sector leadership and substantial funding that is necessary to address this crisis head on," said Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination: Home.

Cisco has made the first 20 million dollars of its 50 million-dollar commitment to the homelessness relief program through the Cisco Fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Destination: Home said in a statement.

As an American multinational tech conglomerate based in San Jose in the center of Silicon Valley, Cisco is the largest networking company in the world that develops, manufactures and sells networking hardware, telecommunications equipment and other hi-tech products. Enditem