Airbnb to host 20,000 refugees from Afghanistan

Home rental company Airbnb is extending the welcome mat to 20,000 refugees leaving Afghanistan after the Taliban recently took control of the country.

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The company’s CEO announced that Airbnb will pay for the stays and that the program begins immediately across the globe.

“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,” Brian Chesky said on Twitter.

He also challenged other business leaders to help those who need it, BBC News reported.

Chesky credits the hosts for making the initiative possible.

“While we will be paying for these stays, we could not do this without the generosity of our hosts,” he said, according to BBC News.

This isn’t the first time Airbnb has jumped into action at a time it was most needed.

Since 2012, 75,000 people have used the service to find housing during times of crisis, the company said.

Airbnb uses its nonprofit, Airbnb.org, to work with nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, to provide housing, CNN reported.

It will work with resettlement agencies “to go where the need goes” and adjust the support provided as needed, BBC News reported.

Chesky didn’t say how long the program will run or how long the refugees will be housed, CNN reported.

The fees associated with the stays will be funded through contributions from Airbnb and donations through the company’s nonprofit’s Refugee Fund, BBC News reported.

For more information, including ways to donate or to offer your property to help, click here.

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Afghanistan takeover Young men who say they deserted the Afghan military and fled to Turkey through Iran stand in the countryside in Tatvan, in Bitlis Province in eastern Turkey, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021. Turkey is concerned about increased migration across the Turkish-Iranian border as Afghans flee the Taliban advance in their country.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) (Emrah Gurel/AP)

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