First published August 30, 2021.
On August 24, 2021, days after the Taliban took Kabul, Airbnb announced that its non-profit arm, Airbnb.org, would provide free temporary housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees around the world. Six months later, in February 2022, Airbnb.org said it had reached that goal, with thousands of hosts also offering free or discounted stays. Here is how the pledge worked, who paid for it, what it achieved and where its limits lay.
What Airbnb promised in August 2021
The announcement came as tens of thousands of people were being evacuated from Afghanistan in the chaotic final weeks of the US-led military presence. Many arrived in the United States, Europe and Canada with nothing arranged beyond their first flight. Resettlement agencies needed somewhere for families to stay while longer-term homes, paperwork and support were organised.
Airbnb's co-founder and chief executive, Brian Chesky, framed the pledge as a challenge to other companies: "I hope this inspires other business leaders to do the same. There's no time to waste." He said that where refugees stayed first would be the opening chapter of their new lives, and he called their displacement one of the biggest humanitarian crises of the time.
The company did not set a time limit for each stay or announce a total budget. It said it would work with resettlement agencies and adjust the programme to wherever the need turned out to be greatest.
Who paid, and how the stays were arranged
The stays were organised through Airbnb.org, which is legally separate from the company: it is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit that uses Airbnb's platform and services free of charge. According to the organisation, the cost of the 20,000 stays was covered by contributions from Airbnb, from Chesky personally and from donors to the Airbnb.org Refugee Fund, a $25 million fund created earlier in 2021. Co-founder Joe Gebbia was also named among the funders when the goal was reached.
Hosts played a second role. Alongside the paid bookings, Airbnb invited hosts to offer their homes for free or at a discount. When Chesky first announced the plan on Twitter, he noted that although Airbnb would pay for the stays, it could not do it without the generosity of its hosts.
Working through resettlement agencies
Airbnb did not place refugees by itself. Families were referred by experienced resettlement organisations, which also handle orientation, paperwork, employment help and finding permanent housing. Before the big pledge, Airbnb.org had already given emergency funding and support to three US agencies, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), HIAS and Church World Service, to house up to 1,000 arriving Afghans. Over a single weekend, 165 refugees were placed in housing after landing in the United States.
David Miliband, president of the IRC, summed up why this mattered: "Accessible housing is urgently needed and essential." Short-term housing gives agencies breathing room, so that a family does not have to choose a permanent home in a strange city within days of arrival.
Did Airbnb meet its goal?
Yes. On February 22, 2022, Airbnb.org reported that it had provided free temporary housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees. Some key figures from its update:
- More than 7,100 hosts offered free or discounted stays, helping house nearly 1,300 additional newcomers beyond the 20,000 funded directly.
- In the United States it worked with the federal government and all nine national resettlement agencies, as well as Women for Afghan Women, an Afghan-led group.
- In Canada more than 160 Afghan newcomers were housed, with Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Lethbridge as the main destinations, through a partnership with the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society and its network of agencies.
- Partners in other countries included Refugee Action in the UK and Amnesty International Ireland.
- The Refugee Fund had attracted more than 4,000 donors.
Airbnb.org also set a new goal of housing another 20,000 refugees, including people from Central America, and said it would invest in measuring the impact of the stays.
Where Airbnb's emergency housing began
The Afghan pledge built on years of disaster response. Airbnb traces the idea to 2012, when a single host offered her home to people displaced by Hurricane Sandy, and the company then built tools so other hosts could do the same. The programme later expanded to evacuees, relief workers, refugees, asylum seekers and, during the Covid-19 pandemic, frontline workers. By August 2021, the company said hosts had provided accommodation to around 75,000 people in need, and that about 25,000 refugees had been connected to temporary housing in the previous four years.
Airbnb.org, the separate non-profit, took over this work in 2020. It says it has since provided more than 1.6 million nights of free housing, responding to wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes and conflicts. Because Airbnb covers the non-profit's operating costs, it says all donations go directly to emergency stays.
What temporary housing can and cannot do
It helps to be clear about what a pledge like this achieves. A free short stay gives a family a safe, private place to rest after a traumatic journey, often better suited to children than a hotel room or a military base. It buys time for agencies to find a lease, enrol children in school and arrange work permits.
But a stay of days or weeks is the first step, not resettlement itself. Families still need affordable long-term housing, language classes, jobs, healthcare and community connections. The number 20,000 also refers to people housed, not to permanent homes. Critics of corporate philanthropy sometimes point out that such pledges bring publicity to the company; supporters reply that the practical help is real either way. Both points can be true.
How people can help refugees today
If this story makes you want to help, there are practical routes:
- Donate to Airbnb.org's emergency housing work or directly to resettlement organisations such as the IRC, HIAS or Church World Service.
- Offer space: hosts on Airbnb can sign up through Airbnb.org to provide free or discounted stays for people in crisis.
- Volunteer locally: resettlement agencies often need help with furniture, driving, tutoring and mentoring new arrivals.
- Welcome neighbours: in many countries, community sponsorship schemes let groups of residents support a refugee family through their first year.
Shelter on arrival is where a new life starts. The Afghan pledge showed how a technology platform, its hosts and established aid agencies can work together quickly when a crisis hits.
Sources: Airbnb Newsroom: The Airbnb community's support for Afghan refugees (August 24, 2021); Airbnb Newsroom: Airbnb.org announces 20,000 Afghan refugees have received housing (February 22, 2022); Airbnb.org; Wikipedia: Airbnb; original report by BBC News (August 2021). Photos: Afghan evacuees in August 2021, news agency images.
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