Airbnb partners with NAACP to recruit black hosts

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced this week that it has teamed up with Airbnb, the home-sharing company beleaguered by discrimination complaints, to expand the service to more minority communities.

The century-old civil rights organization touted the move as a “landmark partnership” that it hopes will spread the economic benefits of tourism.

“For too long, black people and other communities of color have faced barriers to access new technology and innovations,” Derrick Johnson, interim president and chief executive of the NAACP, said in a prepared statement.

Johnson praised Airbnb’s commitment to bringing jobs and other economic opportunities to black communities, calling it a “tremendous step in the right direction for Sili- con Valley to opens its doors to African Americans and other communities.”

Belinda Johnson, Airbnb’s chief business affairs officer, said in a written statement that the company’s model allowing hosts to decide when to rent out their space, keeping 97 percent of what they charge, has democratized capitalism.

“Our fastest-growing communities across major U.S. cities are in communities of color,” Johnson said, “and we’ve seen how home sharing is an economic lifeline for families.”

The company’s own analyses have shown that up to 50 percent of guest spending occurs in the neighborhoods where guests stay. A 2016 Airbnb study of its New York City host community found that the number of Airbnb guests grew 78 percent yearover-year in the 30 city Zip codes with the highest percentage of black residents, compared to 50 percent citywide. Similar studies last year by the company in Chicago’s South Side and Washington, D.C.’s Anacostia neighborhood found even higher rates of growth.

Airbnb has been disputed in Washington, as well as in other high-rent cities, because building owners and landlords often opt to list their housing, including rentcontrolled apartments, on the site to make more money off tourists. The D.C. Council is considering new rules allowing property owners to rent out only one unit at a time, and only in their permanent homes.

As part of the partnership, announced at the NAACP’s convention in Baltimore, local NAACP chapters will work with Airbnb to launch a community campaign educating more minorities on the economic benefits of hosting and bringing travelers to their neighborhoods. Airbnb has committed to sharing 20 percent of its earnings from the community outreach efforts with the NAACP. The company has also committed to increasing the diversity of its U.S. employees from 9.6 percent to 11 percent by the end of the year, with guidance by the NAACP.

Airbnb, founded in 2008 and now operating in 50,000 cities in 191 countries, has faced a barrage of complaints over the years that hosts discriminate against minorities trying to book rentals. Incidents of discrimination occur so frequently that people share their stories of racial bias under the hashtag AirbnbWhileBlack.

The cases have also prompted minority entrepreneurs to launch their own home-sharing start-ups, including Innclusive and Noirbnb, targeting minorities who have experienced discrimination when trying to book using Airbnb.