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More than 25,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine have found temporary housing via Airbnb.org

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Key Takeaways

  • To date, Airbnb.org has helped provide temporary housing to more than 25,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine.

Key Takeaways

  • To date, Airbnb.org has helped provide temporary housing to more than 25,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine.

Earlier this year Airbnb.org announced a commitment to offer free, temporary housing to up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine. Since then, Hosts on Airbnb and people around the world have offered their support by opening their homes and donating to Airbnb.org. In less than three months, Airbnb.org has helped connect more than 25,000 people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine to free places to stay. 

The power of partnership

Last week, Airbnb.org announced it is working with UkraineFriends.org– an organization that provides direct humanitarian support to Ukrainian civilians– to evacuate and house evacuees fleeing Ukraine. Through its collaboration with Airbnb.org, UkraineFriends.org has connected more than 10,000 individuals with housing vouchers, with plans to help thousands more.

This builds on Airbnb.org’s work with a number of other organizations worldwide, including collaborations with Global Empowerment Mission, Planting Peace, EUROSID-Rare Disease Europe, Refugees Welcome Italia, Bienvenida, a project of the NGO PxP Embassy e.V, and Rescate, Red Acoge and Diaconía Madrid. Airbnb.org also continues to support the International Organization for Migration, HIAS, Nova Ukraine and Save the Children Sweden to connect people fleeing from Ukraine to free, short-term housing across Europe.

Working with governments

Airbnb.org is also coordinating directly with government stakeholders in various countries for this response, including the US federal government. As part of its support for Airbnb.org’s commitment, Airbnb joined the US Global Leadership Coalition for a private sector roundtable with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The discussion focused on ways the private sector is providing humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people, and the potential public-private partnerships to address a range of global challenges.

Photo credit: US Global Leadership Coalition

Alina’s story

Airbnb.org partner, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), recently shared the story of Alina who fled Odessa together with her sister, brother-in-law, and niece. She found her way to Romania where she soon was running out of money with no place to stay. She searched online for free housing for people fleeing the war and came across Airbnb.org. IOM worked with Alina to find a place that matched her needs and helped connect her to Airbnb.org Hosts Nikoleta and Andrei.

Just like countless other Romanians who have mobilized to support their neighbors, Nikoleta and Andrei were eager to help. In addition to providing a temporary place to stay, they have helped their guests book doctor appointments and bought them groceries.

Alina is enjoying her time in Romania while she waits for a visa to Canada and says she will forever be grateful for the kindness of IOM staff and the people who have hosted her along the way. 

Airbnb.org is grateful to the more than 48,000 people who have signed up to offer their homes to refugees around the world and the 83,600 individual donors across 95 countries who have helped raise $8.2 million in small-donor, direct donations to Airbnb.org. 

Airbnb and Airbnb.org will continue to leverage a decade of experience in housing displaced people and partnerships with humanitarian organizations around the world to identify where to best serve people in need.
Read more about: Ukraine

About UkraineFriends.org

UkraineFriends.org maintains established partnerships with Operation White Stork, KOACORE, WeShield, Chabad, Jesuit University, Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, and Friends of Rockaway, among others, and was established as a collective humanitarian response to the invasion of Ukraine. Leveraging the expertise and extensive networks of the group’s founders, the organization is a collective of people from varied backgrounds who have chosen to stand together to ensure the rapid response of humanitarian aid to many of the most vulnerable people of this country.

About IOM

Established in 1951, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration and is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. IOM is part of the United Nations system, as a related organization. The organization works in emergency situations, developing the resilience of all people on the move, and particularly those in situations of vulnerability, as well as building capacity within governments to manage all forms and impacts of mobility. 

About Airbnb 

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over
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.

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 frontline workers fighting the spread of COVID-19. Since then, Hosts have offered to open up their homes and helped provide accommodations to 100,000 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.

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