Airbnb, the home-sharing site, has said it will give free housing to refugees and any others not allowed into the United States, presumably as a result of President Trump’s executive order to temporarily ban refugees from the country.
Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US. Stayed tuned for more, contact me if urgent need for housing
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) January 29, 2017
Trump on Friday signed orders not only to suspend admission of all refugees into the United States for 120 days but also to implement “new vetting measures” to screen out “radical Islamic terrorists.” Refugee entry from Syria, however, is suspended indefinitely, and all travel from Syria and six other nations — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen — is suspended for 90 days. Trump also said he would give priority to Christian refugees over those of other religions.
Chesky earlier said singling out countries and refugees in such a way was “not right, and we must stand with those who are affected.”
Not allowing countries or refugees into America is not right, and we must stand with those who are affected.
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) January 29, 2017
Joe Gebbia, another co-founder and Airbnb’s chief product officer, also shared his support of refugees in a series of tweets Saturday and encouraged people to donate to the U.N. refugee agency.
Founded in 2008, Airbnb is now a $30 billion company that operates in 50,000 cities in 191 countries.
It was not immediately clear how housing arrangements for any stranded refugees would be made or how Airbnb hosts would be chosen and compensated.
An Airbnb spokesman did not address those questions by email Sunday morning but said the company would have further details later in the day.
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