Airbnb Opens Up Housing for 20,000 Afghan Refugees Globally

Airbnb opened the doorways of its properties to twenty,000 Afghan refugees globally Tuesday and sought help from hosts who lease property by the home-sharing firm for extra free housing for these fleeing the disaster.

“The displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the US and elsewhere is one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time. We feel a responsibility to step up,” said CEO Brian Chesky on Twitter. “I hope this inspires other business leaders to do the same. There’s no time to waste.”

The UN Refugee Agency said last month that an estimated 270,000 Afghans had been newly displaced inside the country since January – primarily due to insecurity and violence – bringing the total uprooted population to over 3.5 million.

White House officials said 28 US military flights ferried about 10,400 people to safety out of Taliban-held Afghanistan over 24 hours that ended early Monday morning, and 15 C-17 flights over the next 12 hours brought out another 6,660.

Airbnb has a history of making free shelter to those in need through its Airbnb.org.

Since 2012, Airbnb.org has housed 75,000 people fleeing or responding to a crisis, from COVID-19 health workers and earthquake or fire evacuees or responders, to refugees.

Hosts are allowed to sign up for the program through Airbnb.org.

“If you’re willing to host a refugee family, reach out and I’ll connect you with the right people here to make it happen!,” Chesky wrote Tuesday.

Airbnb operates in roughly 100,000 cities in virtually each nation and area the world over.