Housing
UCSF Launches New Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative with $30 Million Gift
Marc and Lynne Benioff’s Donation Will Create First-of-Its-Kind Initiative to Research Causes of Homelessness, Identify Evidence-based Solutions
Made possible by a $30 million gift from Marc and Lynne Benioff, UC San Francisco on Wednesday announced the launch of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, a new center in San Francisco that will conduct groundbreaking research on the root causes of homelessness and identify evidence-based solutions to prevent and end homelessness. Margot Kushel, MD, professor of medicine at UCSF and director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations (CVP), will lead the initiative.
The Benioffs’ gift is the largest-ever private donation to fund homelessness research.
San Francisco, along with countless cities across the country, is experiencing a homelessness crisis. According to the 2017 annual Homelessness Point-in-Time report, approximately 7,500 people are homeless in San Francisco, 58 percent of whom are unsheltered. Rising housing costs and income inequality are leading to more people, including families and older adults, entering homelessness for the first time.
The first-of-its-kind initiative, which will be part of the CVP, will convene experts from various fields to conduct rigorous academic research on homelessness and housing issues, identify evidence-based solutions and train the next generation of homelessness researchers. The initiative will complement and integrate research being conducted by faculty and researchers across the university.
The initiative will also democratize this world-class academic research, making it an easily accessible resource for policy makers and community leaders across the country seeking solutions to end homelessness in their own neighborhoods.
Comments on the Initiative
“The world needs a North Star for truth on homelessness. The UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative will be that North Star, providing the latest research, data and evidence-based solutions to ensure we’re investing in programs that will help solve the homelessness crisis.”
—Marc Benioff
“There is no medicine as powerful as housing. But the problem is complex. We know a lot about how to end homelessness, but that knowledge doesn’t always reach policymakers and is often not properly targeted. We have far more to learn about designing the most effective ways to prevent and end homelessness.”
—Margot Kushel, MD, initiative director
“We have designed this initiative to have real-world impact, first in San Francisco, then statewide and, ultimately we hope, on a national scale. We intend to be a resource for everyone who has a genuine interest in solving homelessness, whether they are elected officials, policymakers, advocates, concerned citizens or people who have experienced homelessness themselves.”
—Joshua Bamberger, MD, MPH, initiative associate director
“Despite all the wealth in this country, especially in our own region, perhaps the gravest threats to health are due to poverty, discrimination, and particularly homelessness. Here at UCSF, we have many dedicated researchers who have devoted their careers to addressing these health inequities. The Benioffs’ continued leadership on these issues, exemplified by this generous new gift, will further energize our efforts, and strengthen our links to communities in need at the local, state and national levels.”
—UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS
“Homelessness isn’t just a Bay Area issue – it touches every community in California. Our entire state and nation have much to gain from this work. Marc and Lynne have been leaders in this space, and this generous investment will help fuel the search for solutions and further develop best practices to help those who are homeless improve their lives.”
—California Governor Gavin Newsom
“Preventing and ending homelessness requires innovative solutions that can be replicated regionally, statewide, and nationally. No one city alone can address homelessness, which is why this initiative by Lynne and Marc Benioff and UC San Francisco will be a great tool for helping us here in San Francisco and in cities all over confront one of our greatest challenges.”
—San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed
“Marc and Lynne Benioff’s empathy and commitment to our most vulnerable residents should serve as inspiration for everyone working to end homelessness. Their relentless effort and passion has already uplifted countless lives, and this latest investment will help all of us understand the root causes that lead to homelessness as well as potential solutions. On behalf of a community who will greatly benefit from Marc and Lynne’s generous gift, Oakland looks forward to partnering with the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative.”
—Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf
Gifts to Homelessness Issues, Children’s Health
With this new gift to UCSF, Marc and Lynne Benioff have now pledged $66 million to prevent and end homelessness in San Francisco. Most recently, they pledged $6.1 million to renovate the Bristol Hotel to add 58 units of housing in San Francisco. The Benioffs also donated $11.5 million to Hamilton Families’ Heading Home Campaign, co-founded Star Community Home, and supported other organizations including Raphael House, Larkin Street Youth Services and Catholic Charities. They also contributed $2 million to the “Yes on C” campaign to pass Proposition C in San Francisco, which will earmark up to $300 million in new tax revenues to address homelessness.
In addition to their work on homelessness, the Benioffs have a long history of supporting children’s health care. Since 2005, the couple has pledged more than $389 million to UCSF, including $200 million in support of the Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland and $50 million to launch the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals Preterm Birth Initiative in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Of this total giving, they recently allocated $15 million to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland to address the acute shortage of mental health services for children and adolescents in Oakland and the East Bay.
Business
COMMENTARY: Your California Living Trust Could Be Next: When Evidence Isn’t Enough
A recent California appellate ruling in the case of the Laura Dean Head Living Trust serves as a sobering warning for property owners relying on estate planning. Despite Dr. Head’s express written wishes to disinherit her estranged sisters and name a longtime friend as beneficiary, the court invalidated the trust based on undue influence. This decision highlights how documented intentions and supporting testimony from legal and medical professionals may still face successful legal challenges from disinherited relatives. Read more to see how this precedent impacts California homeowners.
You put your home in a living trust. You choose who inherits. You expressly disinherit relatives. An attorney prepares the documents. You expect your wishes to survive you.
Dr. Laura Dean Head’s trust did not.
California property owners should examine Laura Dean Head Living Trust, Alameda County Superior Court, Oakland, Case No. RP20061734, and Hamlin v. Jendayi, California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Three, Case No. A167695.
The case delivers a sobering warning: a living trust can face a successful challenge even when its chosen beneficiary presents evidence supporting the person’s stated wishes.
Head, a San Francisco State University professor, named Zakiya Jendayi as successor trustee and primary beneficiary. They had known each other for 28 years. Seven years after Dr. Head’s death, her estranged sisters contested the trust. Jendayi alleges that they consulted various probate attorneys while forum shopping before pursuing the challenge. Judge Sandra K. Bean in Dept. 103 invalidated the trust based on undue influence.
Jendayi’s compilation, “The Truth Is in the Transcriptions,” places disputed findings beside testimony and medical records. She argues that the evidence tells a different story.
Estate planning attorney Elaine Lee testified that she reviewed the trust privately with Head, behind a closed door. Lee’s testimony, reproduced in the compilation, attributes the beneficiary choices to Head and describes her insistence that her sisters receive nothing.
Hospice social worker Jenna Noe confirmed that Head told her she wanted to leave her belongings to Jendayi. Noe also testified that Head made her own decisions in their conversations.
The court described complete dependence on Jendayi. The compilation points to paid caregivers, hospice professionals and frequent visits from friends. When the judge asked nurse Dolly Woodson whether she had witnessed Jendayi abusing Head, Woodson answered no.
Jendayi also challenges the court’s treatment of her conditional power of attorney and alleges omissions and unequal treatment of evidence.
Yet the appellate court affirmed the judgment. It found substantial evidence supporting undue influence, rejected the judicial-bias claims and deemed any deficiencies in the statement of decision harmless. The published portion held that disinherited potential intestate heirs had standing to contest the trust.
That ruling endangers Californians who have properties held in a trust. Disinheritance did not prevent this challenge, and evidence supporting Head’s intentions did not secure the outcome Jendayi sought.
For homeowners relying on a living trust, the question is urgent: how well will your documented choices withstand a contested courtroom narrative?
Read the decision at https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2024/a167695m.html
Examine the testimony. Consider what happened when a woman’s written wishes and the evidence offered to defend them were still not enough.
Sources: Hamlin v. Jendayi (2024) 105 Cal.App.5th 1064, opinion filed Oct. 17, 2024, modified Nov. 12, 2024; Jendayi’s supplied compilation of transcript excerpts and exhibits. Claims of error reflect Jendayi’s position.
Commentary
Oakland Probate Dispute Raises Questions About Court-Ordered Property Transfer and Missing Notice
A legal dispute over an Oakland property has intensified following a tentative ruling that favored occupant Zakiya Jendayi, who claimed she was not properly notified before a judge ordered the property transferred into an estate. After the ruling, the estate’s administrator successfully challenged the presiding judge and requested the case be returned to the judge who signed the original transfer order. The First District Court of Appeal has now intervened to review the disqualification process and recent changes to the court docket. Read more.
Opinion and documentary analysis | Part 2 of 2
A tentative ruling found that Oakland property occupant Zakiya Jendayi had not received notice before a judge ordered its transfer into an estate.
The ruling was not final. Attention shifted to the assigned judge.
The estate’s special administrator, Phillip Campbell, invoked California Code of Civil Procedure Section 170.6 to disqualify Judge Stephanie Sato. The trial court granted the challenge Sept. 9, 2026.
Five days later, Campbell requested reassignment specifically to Judge Sandra Bean, who had signed the property order Jendayi sought to overturn.
The sequence raises questions about procedural fairness.
A Challenge After an Unfavorable Ruling
Sato’s Sept. 8 tentative ruling concluded that California’s notice requirement protected Jendayi as an occupant, regardless of whether Jendayi held a valid ownership interest.
Her proposed decision would have vacated Bean’s Oct. 8, 2025, order.
Section 170.6 permits challenges under certain circumstances. Whether Campbell’s challenge was timely was disputed.
On Sept. 14, Campbell sought Bean’s reassignment, citing her familiarity with related trust litigation, judicial economy and consistency. Jendayi opposed the request the following day.
The timing invites serious public scrutiny but does not establish misconduct.
The Appellate Court Intervenes
In Kaiser Foundation Hospitals v. Superior Court (1987), a California appellate court examined the danger of allowing litigants to learn a judge’s likely decision before seeking disqualification.
The decision also recognized that changed assignments and insufficient notice can affect when a challenge is permissible.
On Sept. 17, 2026, the First District Court of Appeal stayed the order granting Campbell’s challenge and requested briefing addressing Kaiser.
That intervention did not vacate Bean’s property order, restore the invalidated trust or conclusively decide whether Campbell’s challenge was improper.
It did place the reassignment dispute under appellate review.
Questions in the Docket
Two versions of the court docket present another unresolved issue.
A printout preserved through Sept. 15 lacked reassignment entries that appeared in a later version. The later docket listed reassignment to Bean and a clerk’s notice under Sept. 9.
The difference warrants an explanation of when the entries were created, entered and made publicly accessible.
It does not establish deliberate backdating.
Accountability Beyond an Order
Judges generally enjoy immunity from damages claims arising from judicial acts, even when serious error is alleged. That protection does not make their decisions immune from review.
Appellate courts can correct legal errors; California’s Commission on Judicial Performance can investigate misconduct but cannot reverse judgments.
For Jendayi, the central concern remains practical: How much litigation must an occupant undertake to enforce a notice requirement intended to protect participation before property rights are adjudicated?
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co. underscores the importance of meaningful notice and an opportunity to object.
The record establishes contested filings, a tentative ruling and appellate intervention, not anyone’s private motives.
The public deserves a transparent, documented explanation of this consequential judicial process.
A judge’s signature should resolve a lawful dispute, not silence legitimate questions about how the decision was reached.
The case is Estate of Laura Dean Head, Alameda County Superior Court case RP20066047. Records are available through the court’s eCourt Public Portal.
Business
Veterans Housing Project Proposed for South Richmond
According to the development team’s presentation, the project has an estimated total cost of nearly $158 million. The presentation outlines five phases encompassing entitlement and construction documents, community outreach, soil remediation and utility work, podium and building construction, solar technology integration, and interior buildouts.
A proposed mixed-use development at 338 Carlson Blvd. could bring hundreds of homes and support services for military veterans to South Richmond.
Led by the Richmond-based Veterans Resource Program in partnership with Eagle Environmental Construction & Development, the proposal covers an approximately 2.3-acre property the nonprofit acquired in 2018.
The proposal features a multi-building residential development with various apartment sizes, though city documents and developer materials cite conflicting totals ranging from 226 to 268 units.
The proposal also includes approximately 40,000 square feet of commercial and retail space, about 200 parking spaces, and an entrepreneurial training and job-development component intended to connect veterans with economic and workforce opportunities.
According to the development team’s presentation, the project has an estimated total cost of nearly $158 million. The presentation outlines five phases encompassing entitlement and construction documents, community outreach, soil remediation and utility work, podium and building construction, solar technology integration, and interior buildouts.
Founded in 2011, the Veterans Resource Program provides housing assistance and other services to veterans, including those experiencing homelessness or transitioning from incarceration.
The proposal aims to advance Richmond’s affordable housing goals while connecting veterans with housing and supportive services. Details of affordability and veteran eligibility remain to be clarified.
The Richmond City Council was scheduled to receive an informational presentation on the project at its Oct. 6 meeting, following a continuance from Sept. 22. The item does not seek project approval or city funding. Any future request for city financial assistance or other public resources would require separate consideration and approval.
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