Marc Benioff and wife donate 440 Hawaii acres for affordable housing
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife have donated 440 acres of land in Waimea, Hawaii, to the Hawaii Island Community Development Corp. The land will be used to develop affordable housing units to support low to moderate-income residents. This donation follows years of land acquisitions that had previously sparked community concern regarding gentrification.
Why it matters
The donation addresses critical housing shortages in Hawaii while highlighting the role of private philanthropy in mitigating the social impacts of large-scale land ownership by wealthy individuals.
Since 2000, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne Benioff, have bought more than 600 acres of land in Hawaii worth nearly $100 million. Much of the land is in and around Waimea, a rural agricultural town on Hawaii’s Big IslandThe land buying increased after 2020, when the couple began purchasing residential, commercial and agricultural properties in Waimea. KQED found that Benioff had bought at least 38 parcels through six anonymous limited liability companies, or LLCs, and one nonprofit. The properties included more than 580 acres in Waimea and about 25 acres at beach resorts.The purchases attracted attention because Waimea has a close-knit community and a large Native Hawaiian population. Residents worried that wealthy buyers purchasing large amounts of land could increase competition for property and make it harder for local people to afford homes.The uncertainty also led to speculation about Benioff’s plans.
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