Airbnb setting up free housing for up to 100,000 Ukraine refugees
Airbnb said it will help shelter some of the nearly 700,000 people who have fled Ukraine as Russian forces continue their assault of the Eastern European country. The initiative comes as the U.N. refugee agency on Tuesday warned that Europe would soon be dealing with what it called the continent's "largest refugee crisis this century."
"Airbnb.org is prepared to offer housing of up to 14 days for up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine," a spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch in an email. The organization works with nonprofits on the ground to book and coordinate stays for refugees, who also receive a range of other support in their new lives, the spokesperson added.
Airbnb executives wrote to the leaders of Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania offering help in temporarily housing refugees fleeing to their countries, the San Francisco company said Monday.
"While Airbnb is committing to facilitate short-term housing for up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine, it will work closely with governments to best support the specific needs in each country, including by providing longer-term stays," the company said in a statement.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky appealed to the public for help reaching the company's goal arranging housing for refugees, posting on social media that more people in the nations near to Ukraine need to offer their homes, and others can donate.
Airbnb.org, a nonprofit affiliated with Airbnb, has been offering temporary housing for people displaced in crisis since Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The company last week said Airbnb.org had surpassed its goal of providing temporary housing for 20,000 Afghan refugees.
Roughly 677,000 refugees have now fled Ukraine to neighboring countries in the past six days, according to the latest government data compiled by UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency.
"At this rate, the situation looks set to become Europe's largest refugee crisis this century," a UNHCR spokesperson said in a press briefing in Geneva, Switzerland.
Neighboring countries have kept their borders open for those fleeing Ukraine, with most refugees going to Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania and Slovakia, the spokesperson added.