The Salesforce Tower looms through the fog over the San Francisco Financial District on Aug. 1, 2025. The company's founder Marc Benioff also appears to have his head in the clouds when it comes to solving the city's concerns about safety and homelessness, one opinion writer suggests. (Glenn Gehlke/Local News Matters)
WHEN SALESFORCE FOUNDER MARC BENIOFF suggested that the National Guard should be deployed to “clean up” San Francisco, it was like a reminder from another time, when violence was considered an answer to poverty.
Salesforce is not just another business based in San Francisco; it is a major employer in the city, an economic engine, and a cultural symbol. The Salesforce Tower stands out against the skyline as a reminder of how the tech boom changed the Bay Area by bringing in money and power. But that success has also made the gap between those who have benefited from the city’s growth and those who have been left behind by rising rents, displacement, and shrinking social safety nets even bigger.
Lana Tauzhnyanskaya. (Courtesy of the author)
Homelessness and urban disorder are better framed as public health crises rather than security issues. Putting the National Guard on the streets may make them clear for a short time, but it won’t make them safer, healthier, or more stable. People who live on the streets of San Francisco are not dangerous; they are neighbors who are dealing with complicated health and social problems like mental illness, addiction, chronic disease, and the impossible math of trying to survive in one of the most expensive cities in the country.
It is clear from public health research that punishing homeless people only makes things worse. Research indicates that policing, sweeps, and forced displacement elevate mortality rates, limit access to medications, and complicate outreach workers’ efforts to link individuals to care. Investing in housing-first models, harm reduction, and supportive services not only makes people healthier but also saves money for both hospitals and taxpayers.
Benioff’s comments are especially worrying because Salesforce has the power and resources to help improve things. The company could ask for help from community groups instead of sending in troops. What if Salesforce put as much effort into building affordable housing, funding mobile health clinics, or expanding workforce development programs for people who are homeless as it does into Dreamforce, its annual conference?
Becoming a force of change
In the past, Benioff has given millions to programs that help homeless people, such as UCSF’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. But charity can’t stop when things become controversial. Leadership means using money and visibility to push for long-term changes to the way things are done. These changes could include policies that make housing more affordable, improve behavioral health systems, and protect access to benefits like SNAP, which keep families from falling into crisis.
Such leadership is also about being a responsible citizen. In San Francisco, people have consistently demonstrated resilience and innovative thinking. It was at the front of the fight against HIV/AIDS, for immigrant rights, and for LGBTQ+ freedom. The militarization of our streets, which treats homelessness as a problem to solve before tourists arrive for Dreamforce, is incompatible with this legacy. In terms of public health, safety is not just the absence of crime; it is the presence of well-being. Stable housing, healthy food, a sense of community, and easy access to health care are all things that can help our San Francisco communities thrive; you cannot force social determinants of health onto our communities.
If we truly want San Francisco to be safer and healthier, we need to stop linking safety with enforcement. We should pay for care, not punishment.
If Benioff chose to focus his influence on those factors, it could change a lot for the city and its residents. Salesforce could support employer-assisted housing for its employees and people who live nearby, or it could put money and advocacy work into public-private partnerships that turn empty buildings into permanent supportive housing. It could pay for job training programs that help people return to work instead of hiding them away.
If we truly want San Francisco to be safer and healthier, we need to stop linking safety with enforcement. We should pay for care, not punishment. Salesforce, along with the tech industry, has the potential to transform the perception of corporate responsibility in a city struggling to maintain its identity.
The National Guard is not needed in San Francisco. It needs its strongest residents and institutions to remember that every tent and every person on the street is a sign of a systemic failure that can only be fixed with empathy, compassion, resources, and ongoing advocacy.
If Marc Benioff really wants to make San Francisco safe, he should look up at the tower that bears his company’s name and realize that the higher you are in this city, the more you need to help others.
About the author
Lana Tauzhnyanskaya is a graduate student in public health policy at the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on policy, health equity, and the social determinants of health.
Opinion: Care, not crackdowns — Benioff has it wrong about how to solve SF homelessness
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WHEN SALESFORCE FOUNDER MARC BENIOFF suggested that the National Guard should be deployed to “clean up” San Francisco, it was like a reminder from another time, when violence was considered an answer to poverty.
Salesforce is not just another business based in San Francisco; it is a major employer in the city, an economic engine, and a cultural symbol. The Salesforce Tower stands out against the skyline as a reminder of how the tech boom changed the Bay Area by bringing in money and power. But that success has also made the gap between those who have benefited from the city’s growth and those who have been left behind by rising rents, displacement, and shrinking social safety nets even bigger.
Homelessness and urban disorder are better framed as public health crises rather than security issues. Putting the National Guard on the streets may make them clear for a short time, but it won’t make them safer, healthier, or more stable. People who live on the streets of San Francisco are not dangerous; they are neighbors who are dealing with complicated health and social problems like mental illness, addiction, chronic disease, and the impossible math of trying to survive in one of the most expensive cities in the country.
It is clear from public health research that punishing homeless people only makes things worse. Research indicates that policing, sweeps, and forced displacement elevate mortality rates, limit access to medications, and complicate outreach workers’ efforts to link individuals to care. Investing in housing-first models, harm reduction, and supportive services not only makes people healthier but also saves money for both hospitals and taxpayers.
Benioff’s comments are especially worrying because Salesforce has the power and resources to help improve things. The company could ask for help from community groups instead of sending in troops. What if Salesforce put as much effort into building affordable housing, funding mobile health clinics, or expanding workforce development programs for people who are homeless as it does into Dreamforce, its annual conference?
Becoming a force of change
In the past, Benioff has given millions to programs that help homeless people, such as UCSF’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. But charity can’t stop when things become controversial. Leadership means using money and visibility to push for long-term changes to the way things are done. These changes could include policies that make housing more affordable, improve behavioral health systems, and protect access to benefits like SNAP, which keep families from falling into crisis.
Such leadership is also about being a responsible citizen. In San Francisco, people have consistently demonstrated resilience and innovative thinking. It was at the front of the fight against HIV/AIDS, for immigrant rights, and for LGBTQ+ freedom. The militarization of our streets, which treats homelessness as a problem to solve before tourists arrive for Dreamforce, is incompatible with this legacy. In terms of public health, safety is not just the absence of crime; it is the presence of well-being. Stable housing, healthy food, a sense of community, and easy access to health care are all things that can help our San Francisco communities thrive; you cannot force social determinants of health onto our communities.
If Benioff chose to focus his influence on those factors, it could change a lot for the city and its residents. Salesforce could support employer-assisted housing for its employees and people who live nearby, or it could put money and advocacy work into public-private partnerships that turn empty buildings into permanent supportive housing. It could pay for job training programs that help people return to work instead of hiding them away.
If we truly want San Francisco to be safer and healthier, we need to stop linking safety with enforcement. We should pay for care, not punishment. Salesforce, along with the tech industry, has the potential to transform the perception of corporate responsibility in a city struggling to maintain its identity.
The National Guard is not needed in San Francisco. It needs its strongest residents and institutions to remember that every tent and every person on the street is a sign of a systemic failure that can only be fixed with empathy, compassion, resources, and ongoing advocacy.
If Marc Benioff really wants to make San Francisco safe, he should look up at the tower that bears his company’s name and realize that the higher you are in this city, the more you need to help others.
About the author
Lana Tauzhnyanskaya is a graduate student in public health policy at the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on policy, health equity, and the social determinants of health.