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How to support housing needs for Afghan refugees

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Earlier this week, Airbnb.org and Airbnb announced that Airbnb.org will offer free, temporary housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees worldwide. These stays are being paid for through contributions to Airbnb.org from Airbnb and Brian Chesky, as well as donors to the Airbnb.org Refugee Fund.

Since the announcement, we have received enormous interest from people within the Airbnb community and beyond looking for ways to support Airbnb and Airbnb.org’s work with partner organizations to house Afghan refugees. In many cases, we have heard from people who want to offer their space free of charge.

The response has been overwhelming and today we’re sharing more details on how people can help us expand on efforts to meet this unprecedented need for temporary, emergency stays for refugees arriving from Afghanistan:

Host a refugee

Existing Airbnb Hosts and anyone with available space to offer can sign up to provide free or discounted stays to Afghan refugees. Airbnb waives all its fees on all refugee stays.

Donate

A lot of people, including existing Airbnb Hosts, are eager to help but, for a variety of reasons, might not be able to open their homes. Those who cannot open their homes, but are interested in supporting housing for Afghan refugees can donate to Airbnb.org. 

More details on how to get involved can be found at Airbnb.org/refugees. Airbnb and Airbnb.org are covering the cost of 20,000 stays, but with your help, we can do even more. 

While Airbnb.org, with Airbnb’s support, has committed to cover the cost of housing 20,000 refugees worldwide, none of this would be possible without the help of the Airbnb Host community and Airbnb.org partners—including International Rescue Committee, HIAS and Church World Service, among others. As the situation on the ground in Afghanistan continues to evolve, Airbnb.org will continue to work closely with resettlement agencies and partners to go where the need goes, and evolve this initiative and support as necessary.

In addition, Airbnb.org and Airbnb are also extending support to the federal government and states and cities that have expressed interest in receiving refugees to help provide stays as needed. 

This week’s announcement builds on Airbnb.org’s support of refugees. Over the past four years, approximately 25,000 refugees have found temporary stays provided by the Airbnb.org community; and earlier this year, Airbnb.org announced the creation of a $25 million Refugee Fund. 

We are deeply appreciative of Hosts who have stepped up to open their homes for free or at a discount and those who have offered to donate to the Refugee Fund. This support—as well as any additional generosity—will be used to build upon Airbnb.org’s initial commitment to help meet the emergency housing needs of 20,000 refugees.

About Airbnb.org

Airbnb.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating temporary stays for people in times of crisis around the world. Airbnb.org operates independently and leverages Airbnb, Inc.’s technology, services, and other resources at no charge to carry out Airbnb.org’s charitable purpose. The inspiration for Airbnb.org began in 2012 with a single host named Shell who opened up her home to people impacted by Hurricane Sandy. This sparked a movement and marked the beginning of a program that allows Hosts on Airbnb to provide stays for people in times of need. Since then, the program has evolved to focus on emergency response and to help provide stays to evacuees, relief workers, refugees, asylum seekers, and most recently, frontline workers fighting the spread of COVID-19. Since then, Hosts have offered to open up their homes and helped provide accommodations to 75,000 people in times of need. Airbnb.org is a separate and independent entity from Airbnb, Inc. Airbnb, Inc. does not charge service fees for Airbnb.org supported stays on its platform.

About Airbnb

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to 4 million Hosts who have welcomed more than 1 billion guest arrivals across over 220 countries and regions. Travel on Airbnb keeps more of the financial benefits of tourism with the people and places that make it happen. Airbnb has generated billions of dollars in earnings for Hosts, most of whom are individuals listing the homes in which they live. Among Hosts who report their gender, more than half are women, and one in five employed Hosts are either teachers or healthcare workers. Travel on Airbnb also has generated more than $4 billion in tax revenue around the world. Airbnb has helped advance more than 1,000 regulatory frameworks for short-term rentals, including in 80% of our top 200 geographies. In late 2020, to support our continued expansion and diversification, we launched the City Portal to provide governments with a one-stop shop that supports data sharing and compliance with local registration rules. We continue to invest in innovations and tools to support our ongoing work with governments around the world to advance travel that best serves communities.

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