A Pakistani paramilitary soldier stands guard while Afghan families enter Pakistan through a border crossing point in Chaman, Pakistan, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Jafar Khan)
By Michelle Chapman
Airbnb opened the doors of its properties to 20,000 Afghan refugees globally Tuesday and sought assistance from hosts who rent property through the home-sharing company for more free housing for those fleeing the crisis.
“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," said CEO Brian Chesky on Twitter. “I hope this inspires other business leaders to do the same. There's no time to waste."
The UN Refugee Agency said last month 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.
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.
Airbnb has a history of making free shelter 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.
Anyone in the U.S. who had an account at any time between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, is eligible to receive a payment. The 2022 settlement resolves a lawsuit alleging that Facebook allowed millions of its users’ personal information to be fed to Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Irrigation might have saved Jackson's hay, but she and her husband rejected the idea about 10 years ago over the cost: as much as $75,000 for a new well and all the equipment. But now — with an extended drought and another U.S. heat wave this week that will broil her land about an hour northwest of Dallas for days in 100-degree-plus temperatures — Jackson said she is “kind of rethinking.”
Children’s advocacy groups including Fairplay and Common Sense Media are asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google, saying the tech giant serves personalized ads to kids on YouTube despite federal law prohibiting the practice.
