Washington, D.C. — September 14, 2026 Claudio Bono, founder and CEO of GiveARoof.org, announced today that after three years of unanswered outreach to California’s governor, his organization’s proposal to convert unused airline miles, hotel loyalty points, and credit card rewards into emergency housing funding has been heard at the federal level, including engagement with the White House.
Turning Unused Loyalty Points Into Emergency Housing
GiveARoof.org’s model redirects donated loyalty points, assets that individuals and companies hold but rarely use in full, into hotel stays and shelter for people experiencing homelessness. A partnership with United Airlines’ Miles on a Mission program has already surpassed its goal of 500,000 donated miles, demonstrating the concept at small scale without government funding, a national platform, or institutional backing.
“One person, one airline partnership, and half a million miles raised with no support system behind it — that alone should tell you this works,” said Claudio Bono. “Imagine what it could do with federal support.”
A Model Bono Says Could Scale Nationally
The public response has reinforced that appetite: everyday travelers routinely hold miles and points they don’t need or intend to use, and the United partnership shows that when given an easy way to redirect them, people will.
Bono believes securing additional corporate airline, hotel, and card partnerships could double GiveARoof.org’s donation volume and funding capacity, and that a simple, one-click platform for transferring points, paired with federal backing, would let the model scale nationally instead of one partnership at a time.
“We’re not asking anyone to give up something they need,” Bono said. “We’re asking them to redirect something they already have and aren’t using. A real partnership with the White House would let us do this intelligently, at the scale this crisis actually requires.”
Two Proposals for Federal Policymakers
Bono is calling on federal policymakers to act on two specific proposals:
A Welcome Center triage model that separates people experiencing homelessness by need — situational hardship, mental health, or substance use — so each group gets the right kind of help immediately, rather than one-size-fits-all shelter placement.
An amendment to IRC §170 allowing donors to claim a fair-market-value deduction for donated airline miles, hotel points, and credit card rewards — unlocking a currently untapped funding source for homelessness response.
Calling for Greater Accountability in Homelessness Funding
“I’ve spent three years trying to reach my own state’s elected leadership and gotten nothing back — not a call, not a meeting, not an answer,” Bono said. “As a taxpayer, I want to know why there’s no independent audit of how homelessness dollars are actually spent. Billions go out every year and the number of people on the street keeps climbing. Any elected official who wants to send more money without first showing where the last round went isn’t offering a solution — they’re offering the same failure at a higher price.”
The Homelessness Fix
Bono is also the author of The Homelessness Fix, which reached #1 on Amazon in Poverty & Social Issues and is available on more than 70 platforms worldwide. The book lays out the full framework behind GiveARoof.org’s approach.
“I started this after serving meals at a shelter and seeing that there’s no connective tissue between nonprofits, no shared data to catch the root causes before they spiral, and administrative costs eating into money meant for people who need it,” Bono said. “This is fixable, and it doesn’t need to take decades or cost tens of billions more to find out.”
Continuing Partnerships and Federal Engagement
GiveARoof.org continues to pursue partnerships with airlines, hotel groups, and financial institutions, and is in ongoing conversations with federal agencies including HUD and the White House Domestic Policy Council.
About GiveARoof.org
GiveARoof.org is a California-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that converts donated travel and rewards points into emergency housing for people experiencing homelessness, built on a model designed to benefit donors, hotels, cities, and the federal government alike.
Media Contact
Claudio Bono
Founder & CEO, GiveARoof.org
Contact: Nathan Tran
CIO, GiveARoof.org
Website: www.GiveARoof.org
