At least 20,000 Afghans fleeing their country to the West will be able to be hosted for free in accommodation made available by Airbnb around the world. The gesture of solidarity was announced today by the CEO of the online rental and vacation rental platform, Brian Chesky, in response to the “greatest humanitarian crisis of our time”.
A moral reminder that the company and its partners have not shirked, as they had already done in the recent past: “There is no time to waste”, added Chesky. “Tens of thousands of Afghans have to rearrange themselves around the world and the place where they do will be the first chapter of their new life. For these 20,000 refugees – he added in his note – my hope is that the Airbnb community will offer them. not only a safe place to rest and start over, but also a warm welcome home “. The offering, Chesky said, begins today. Airbnb is also working with some NGOs “on the ground” to help refugees with their most basic needs.
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Chesky, who hoped that other companies would also follow his example, then specified that the company itself will pay for these 20,000 stays, through contributions from the company and the manager himself and donations to the Refugee Fund of Airbnb (Airbnb. org Refugee Fund). “But we could not have done this without the generosity of our partners,” the owners of the houses, he added. The initiative announced today does not come unexpected: Airbnb has also in the past encouraged its associates to open their accommodations to “people in crisis”. It all began with Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which displaced at least a thousand people in New York City. Since then, recalls the BBC, Airbnb has helped 75,000 people in need. And from spontaneity in 2017, we moved on to the creation of the Open Homes platform, which allows members to offer their homes for free to people fleeing disasters and wars: an initiative that has already paid off to those affected by the last earthquake. in Mexico City, fires in California and Australia, tornadoes in the United States, and floods in Europe and elsewhere. Last week, Airbnb has already housed 1,000 Afghans who have just arrived in the United States, providing support and logistical help to NGOs such as the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (Hias) and the Church World Service (Cws). .
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