Former Napster CEO Is Doing Incredible Work To Help Silicon Valley's Homeless

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Silicon Valley's homeless aren't completely without resources.

The Downtown Streets Team (DST) helps homeless people get off the streets by putting them to work and allowing them to become self-sufficient.

DST is a great example of the good that can happen when tech insiders turn their attention to a problem.

Chris Richardson is DST's program director and is the first to admit he's an unlikely homeless advocate. "I grew up pretty privileged and didn't get much exposure to this," he says swinging his arm around at The Jungle where up to 175 homeless people live at any given time. "But my mom had a vision and we're doing what we can to make it a reality."

Chris' mom, Eileen Richardson, was the first CEO of Napster and is a venture capitalist who volunteered with the homeless and realized it was a problem with a solution. Chris explains the family approach: "We come down to these camps three times a week and work with residents picking up trash and hauling out debris." 

"In return," Chris says, the homeless "get food [and] housing vouchers and [access to] services that allow them to work their way into housing and back into society." The Streets Team members work in the camps and on the streets of Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, San Jose, and San Rafael. 

DST's board includes prominent Stanford University officials and the Palo Alto Chief of Police. Chris tells us that their "participants earn everything they get from our organization. We're not a charity and that makes a huge difference to donors and to the people they help." 

Chris Richardson coordinates teams of homeless "employees" throughout four Silicon Valley Cities to sweep streets, pick up trash, and perform janitorial work and other services in return for food vouchers and other necessities.

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DST members meet here at "The Jungle" three times a week where they haul away thousands of pounds of trash. The Jungle alone can generate several hundred pounds of trash per day, so there is always work.

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Because many members are, or were, homeless themselves, they command respect out here where the disconnect between those trying to help and those needing help can often be immense.

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