{"id":50644,"date":"2019-12-11T18:36:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T18:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=50644"},"modified":"2022-10-28T01:35:17","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T08:35:17","slug":"the-long-walk-home-a-partnership-to-support-our-local-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/au\/blog\/the-long-walk-home-a-partnership-to-support-our-local-community\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long Walk Home: A partnership to support our local community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It wasn\u2019t an average Friday night for any of us, but the distance we walked \u2013 28km \u2013 is the average distance a homeless person in Sydney walks each week seeking a safe space to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each night in NSW, more than 36,000 people have no home to go to, and this is one of the clearest signs of inequality in our society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not too long ago, a lot of people took the view that homelessness is a choice. And that’s a really unfortunate view \u2013 homelessness is both a sign of the gap between the haves and the have-nots, and a failure to adequately treat people who are suffering from major injuries, particularly head traumas, or physical or mental illnesses. Along the walk, I spoke with the Wayside Chapel\u2019s CEO Jon Owen about this growing disparity and the increasing rates of homelessness not just in Australia but everywhere in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Homelessness isn\u2019t a choice, it\u2019s a failure of a social safety net that was set up as an aside to the existing form of capitalism. An effect of housing costs that just continue to go up while minimum wages continue to stagnate, so it becomes harder and harder for even working people to be able to afford a house or proper care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you have people who have jobs, have families and have a choice: to pay rent or pay for food. Basically anyone can become homeless nowadays \u2013 it doesn’t take much to get into a spiral from that choice between rent and food. And next thing you know, someone who once was an educated professional with a family home is now living on the street with their kids. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t believe anyone chooses that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partnership for purpose<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I do believe though that businesses can be powerful platforms for social change and that it\u2019s our responsibility to pursue equality for all. We know the impact of a business that puts purpose alongside profit can have \u2013 our co-CEO Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne recently committed $30 million to the University of California, San Francisco\u2019s Centre for Vulnerable Populations, which will fund a five-year research program to understand the causes of homelessness and identify evidence-backed solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Locally, homelessness is undeniably a growing issue; unfortunately, government and the current form of capitalism are not going to address it. Jon Owen and I spoke about collaboration between organisations like Wayside and businesses that can support their work, showcasing how collaboration from organisations and communities is the only thing that’s going to solve that problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one should have to live on the street \u2013 that’s why we came on board as sponsors of the event, why we walked, and why we raised funds in support of the Wayside Chapel alongside NRMA Insurance and PWC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n