San Francisco receives record $100 million donation to battle homelessness

SAN FRANCISCO - A San Francisco-based nonprofit has pledged to raise $100 million to reduce chronic homelessness in a city widely known for sidewalk tent encampments amid multi-million dollar homes.

Tipping Point Community said the money will come from private donations and go toward affordable housing and homeless services provided by other nonprofit groups as well as government.

The office of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee says this is the largest private commitment ever made in the city to combat homelessness.

Daniel Lurie, Tipping Point's chief executive and founder, said that such poverty was unacceptable in such a wealthy region. "Homelessness is a humanitarian crisis and the issue of our time," he said in a statement.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines the chronically homeless as people who have been living on the streets for more than a year and have a disability such as drug addiction or mental health issues.

The mayor's office reports there are about 2,000 people in the city who are chronically homeless. Lurie would like to cut that number in half.

"There is no silver bullet to confronting homelessness. We need new ideas to address this issue and must tackle it from all angles," the mayor said in a statement.

The nonprofit said in a press release that it has already raised $60 million.