Airbnb hosts to welcome refugees.

Open Homes initiative provides free short-term housing to refugees in need

As the worldwide refugee crisis intensifies and families displaced by violence continue to land in the Bay Area, more than 160 Airbnb landlords are waiting to welcome them and provide a smooth transition to life in the U.S., according to new data released by the home-sharing company.

About 450 Californians signed up to rent their homes for free to refugees and other displaced people before Airbnb launched its Open Homes program earlier this month — including 48 in the South Bay, 41

in the East Bay and 75 in San Francisco, Airbnb said in advance of World Refugee Day on Tuesday. The South Bay and East Bay numbers have not been previously reported.

The new numbers provide an early glimpse into Airbnb’s Open Homes initiative, and how the startup intends to fulfill its promise of providing short-term housing to 100,000 people in need over the next five years.

The data comes as civil war continues to rage in Syria, spurring millions to flee, and the United Nations on Monday said a record 65.6 million people around the world were forced from their homes last year by conflict and persecution.

Kim Ruby, Airbnb’s head of social impact and philanthropy, said she’s been blown away by the willingness of community members to share their homes.

“What’s been so amazing about the response to date is that more than half the people offering to host have never hosted on Airbnb before,” she said.

“We’re just so overwhelmed by how positive the response has been.”

Airbnb’s Open Homes platform lets hosts volunteer their homes and spare bedrooms to refugees and other families in need of temporary housing. Then Airbnb’s nonprofit partners, such as the International Rescue Committee (IRC), browse and book available listings for their refugee clients.

That type of transitional housing is crucial, said Karen Ferguson, executive director of the IRC’s Northern California Offices. Her organization aims to have a long-term apartment ready for all refugee families before they arrive in the U.S., but short notice and rising rents can make it difficult to set up lodging in time.

Ferguson estimated that out of the roughly 800 refugee families a year that IRC brings to Northern California, less than 200 have nowhere to go when they first arrive. But that’s just within one organization.

More than 4,500 refugees arrived in California between October and May — nearly 10 percent of the country’s entire intake, according to the Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

Previously, when families needed somewhere to stay while they wait for a more permanent apartment — usually an average of about two weeks — the IRC traditionally has set them up in hotels. But that gets expensive, Ferguson said.

The federal government gives all refugees accepted into the U.S. a one-time $925 stipend to help them set up their new life, she said, and that can run out quickly during a hotel stay. That’s where Airbnb comes in.

“Having that stopgap that does not use up the client’s money is an incredible gift to refugees starting here,” Ferguson said.

Spending that transitional time in a home, where the family can cook its own meals and may even be welcomed with a personalized gift from the Airbnb host, is an improvement over an impersonal hotel, she said.

“I just think it’s so much more of a welcoming way to bring someone into this country,” Ferguson said. “And it’s a way to help somebody to feel like you’re a part of the community. You’re not a tourist. You’re not still in limbo. You’re being welcomed into a neighborhood, into a home.”

Airbnb first started offering free short-term lodging in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, creating a tool the company could activate in specific locations to provide housing for disaster survivors and relief workers. In 2015, as heartbreaking images of families and children caught up in the Syrian civil war flooded the media, Airbnb began working with relief agencies and conducting pilot tests to house refugees.

It put the idea to the test in February, offering free housing to immigrant families displaced by President Donald Trump’s travel ban.

Airbnb expanded that effort by launching Open Homes on June 7, rolling the 2,000 landlords — including 164 in the Bay Area — who first signed up in February into the new program. The company on Monday did not say how many landlords have signed up since June 7.

IRC has used the program at least 20 times to house refugees in Oakland and Sacramento, and so far it’s gone well, Ferguson said. The hosts have been welcoming, the guests have been grateful, and no problems have been reported, she said.

But just in case, the IRC caseworker — who shuttles the family from the airport to the home, and returns within 24 hours to check in — is on call to handle any issues or complaints.