Airbnb Offers Free Housing Globally for 20,000 Afghan Refugees

Airbnb, Inc., the online marketplace for homestays for vacation rentals and tourism activities, is offering free housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees globally and sought more assistance from hosts who rent their property through the home-sharing company. 

In a tweet early Tuesday, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky wrote, "The displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the U.S. and elsewhere is one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time. We feel a responsibility to step up." 

The UN Refugee Agency says 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.

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White House officials said 28 U.S. 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.

Based in San Francisco, Calif., Airbnb has a history of making free shelter available 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 approximately 100,000 cities in almost every country and region across the world.