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Airbnb Announces Its Plan To House 100,000 People In Need (backchannel.com) 139

Posted by BeauHD from the lend-a-helping-hand dept.
New submitter mirandakatz writes: Airbnb has just unveiled its Open Homes Platform, a home-sharing site for hosts motivated by goodwill instead of profits -- and for guests motivated by need rather than wanderlust. Specifically, Airbnb is going to begin by connecting refugees with hosts in Canada, France, Greece, and the United States. Ultimately, refugees will be just one group that the site aims to help: Site visitors can also nominate other groups of people for temporary placements, and the platform will expand to include them eventually. At Backchannel, Jessi Hempel dives into the home-sharing platform's latest effort, and places it in the context of the company's broader business strategy.
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Airbnb Announces Its Plan To House 100,000 People In Need More

Airbnb Announces Its Plan To House 100,000 People In Need

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  • temporary (Score:3)

    by turkeydance ( 1266624 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2017 @08:31PM (#54573651)
    until it's not

  • I dunno (Score:4, Insightful)

    by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2017 @08:38PM (#54573681)
    At first I thought this was a gracious gesture by a corporation, until I realized that AirBnB isn't really offering anything at all. How many properties will they be offering on their own? How many people have an extra property to volunteer to someone who may not even feel the need to use a bathroom?

    • At first I thought this was a gracious gesture by a corporation, until I realized that AirBnB isn't really offering anything at all. How many properties will they be offering on their own? How many people have an extra property to volunteer to someone who may not even feel the need to use a bathroom?

      Air B&B do not own properties. They are a listing agency that accepts reservations, vets the tenant(s), and rates the property lessor. Individuals who have spare apartments or rooms or suites that are available during parts of the year or months deal with AB&B to rent out furnished premises. Thnk about Olympics, and other tourist cities.

  • Not going to happen (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    You want junkies and welfare people living in your house? I didn't think so.

    • refugees so I can be an accessory to ISIS with AirBnB pointing to there EULA sticking be with the legal bill.

      • Then pick from the Shia Muslims, the Christians, the Jews, or the gays, that are fleeing those countries to escape persecution. No one is forcing you to accept Sunni Muslims.

        • How exactly are you going to tell them apart except for trusting they are who/what they say they are?
          Also telling them apart and filtering based on religion beliefs is grounds for discrimination and a nice lawsuit thrown your way. Either way, you lose.

        • Umm... how do you identify a gay, Jewish Christian Shia Muslim? People rarely have that stamped to their forehead. And ... well, you might be new to this world, and this might be hard to swallow, but people lie to get what they want.

        • Good luck with that. Assyrian Christians and Yezidis are basically victims of genocide at this point but Trudeau and the liberal party in Canada have taken the opposite approach from the previous administration and reversed course on accepting them.
          • Apologies for replying to my own thread but I do have to acknowledge that that US position on this to this point (not sure in 2017) has actually been worse. Ban on non-Muslims: http://www.newsweek.com/us-bar... [newsweek.com]

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by jedidiah ( 1196 )

              Haven't you heard? Focusing on the Syrians that would actually qualify for genuine political refugee status is a violation of the Establishment clause.

      • You want us to pay for the door the SWAT broke down and the bullet holes in the wall? Think again. And before you do, be grateful that we're so gracious as to not charge you with housing terror suspects!

  • AirBnB presents... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Host your own terrorist program

  • Refugees? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07, 2017 @08:50PM (#54573745)

    We have unemployed, homeless people right here that need housing...

    • When there is an earthquake or a hurricane, everybody wants to help the people who've been made temporarily homeless by the disaster.

      But if we're talking about chronically homeless people, people with mental problems, health problems, criminal convictions, and/or substance abuse problems. People are much less willing to put them up in their guest rooms. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.

      And even among refugees, charities do not treat them all the same. The families and the highly educated usually get pref

      • Hmm... I have a doctor, but a personal chauffeur would be nifty.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by SeaFox ( 739806 )

      We have unemployed, homeless people right here that need housing...

      We don't feel sorry for them because they were displaced by corporate greed or medical conditions, not global conflicts. /s

    • We have unemployed, homeless people right here that need housing...

      Homelessness isn't the problem, it's a symptom. Usually "mental illness" is the actual problem, and that's the reason you can't just give a homeless person a house and make everything right again. That's also the reason they typically don't get a job.

      There are a few - very few - homeless people who don't have mental issues and just need a job. I knew a guy like that when I was younger. But that's a drop in the bucket.

      We'll always have the homeless.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by OhPlz ( 168413 )

        A greater number of the homeless are people who don't want to go to a shelter or use transitional housing because they don't allow drinking or drugging in those places.

      • Homelessness isn't the problem, it's a symptom. Usually "mental illness" is the actual problem, and that's the reason you can't just give a homeless person a house and make everything right again. That's also the reason they typically don't get a job.

        Wrong. Wow do you know anything about this outside of the one guy you knew once? There's a really good evidence-base to suggest that simply having stable housing is the critical factor in someone managing their mental health issues. In your analysis, people can't hold jobs or tenancies until their 'mental illness' is dealt with appropriately. What do you propose, then? Asylums? Nice.

        Here's [youtube.com] a guy who actually knows something on the topic. Give it a whirl.

  • I RFTA and thought that this was a nice program allowing people to pay it forwards and then I read the comments.

    Wow. Not much love or sympathy in this group.

    • Comments not very Christian

      Christian? ACs barely even pass for human.

      • I am not an AC, I fucking hope I don't pass for Christian. I consider myself educated, sane and not in need of mythical beings to hover over me to act human.

        • Yet I would not be surprised if you believe in all the (impossible to prove or disprove by repeatable controlled experiment) tall tales and cosmological mythology preached under the banner of "science".

          Few and rare indeed are those who can live without some or another form of faith.

          • No unlike you I don't believe/have faith in anything that can't be proven/disproven by science. Faith is a crutch for the weak minded.

            • Perhaps. Or perhaps you just don't recognize your own faith.

          • I'm intrigued. What are you talking about? Science is actually all about repeatable documentation, so if you can actually show something to be false with repeatable experiments, we might be looking at a sensation.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by jedidiah ( 1196 )

              Some things are inherently difficult to verify. Some of those get dressed up as "science". We are expected to accept those with as much blind faith as an evangelical.

              If you think something needs "disproven", you fundementally misunderstand science.

              • please provide examples, everything in science that is not proven is not labelled as fact or expected to be taken on faith. They are labelled theories and are expected to be challenged. If you have examples where this is not occurring then they should be called out.

              • Yes, some things are hard to verify. Or falsify, more correctly. But in the end, what we "dress up" as science is in such a case simply the most likely scenario. You are not expected to accept them with faith, you are expected to come up with an equally likely alternative scenario and weigh them against each other.

                In the end, usually the one that requires the least (note: least, not fewest) assumptions is the one that gets picked. For good reason. When you hear hooves, expect horses, not zebras.

    • for my entire adult life, so you're forgive me if I'm just a wee bit too cynical not to question the motives of a company at the forefront of the gig economy (who's business model contributes to me being unable to afford to buy a home).

    • Wow. Not much love or sympathy in this group.

      I remember reading about turning the other cheek but I don't recall anything about handing your wife or daughters over to be raped. Then again, I'm not super familiar with the bible.

      • I remember reading about turning the other cheek but I don't recall anything about handing your wife or daughters over to be raped. Then again, I'm not super familiar with the bible.

        I'm not sure whether you were being sarcastic, but if not you might want to read up on the story of Lot, who is said to have done exactly that—offered up his daughters to be raped by a mob in place of his guests. There is no mention of him being condemned for it either; if anything this show of "hospitality" toward his guests was part of the reason why he was deemed "righteous" and saved while the rest of the town, and all who lived there, were destroyed. Apparently no one asked the daughters for thei

  • I Nominate The Homeless (Score:5, Insightful)

    by EzInKy ( 115248 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2017 @09:11PM (#54573859)

    Far too many people can be found wandering around cities at night without places to go, and that leaves them at the mercy of dope dealers and others who are looking to profit from their misery.

    • Re:I Nominate The Homeless (Score:4, Funny)

      by PPH ( 736903 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2017 @09:28PM (#54573953)

      They aren't wandering aimlessly. They are looking for dope dealers.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by EzInKy ( 115248 )

        Most of those I've met are happy if you offer them a blanket and/or a meal. Dope is expensive.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Have you tried offering dope?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by PPH ( 736903 )

          Dope is expensive.

          They don't want to dig into their dope budget for those little luxuries.

  • there are many people that are in desperate need of help, the problem is identifying the legitimate ones. I would actually trust refugees more than most of the local homeless but even then after seeing what happened to friends I would not want to try the lottery even on refugees. friends helped out a family living in a car by providing them rent at a way way below market rates so they could have a roof over their heads. 6 weeks later the house looked like a garbage dump inside and out and it took another 3

  • ... there was a town called Need.

    I'm willing to help. I'll buy a homeless person a bus ticket there.

  • "Are you a terrorist?"
    "Yes! Awe, you caught me!!!"
    "Get outta here, you joker."
    "Allahu ackbar!"
    "Yeah, yeah..."

    Sounds nuts? Not as nutty as this fantasy land bullshit. There is a fucking reason we have borders. Because not everyone likes the same thing as everyone else. Isn't that what made it so appealing to all these celebs that said they'd pack up and move if Trump got elected in the first place? Wait, did any of them leave? Fuck no they didn't. Fantasy land bullshitters.

  • What's the next part of the business plan? As long as you house them and feed them you can make them work 21 hour days for you?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by SeaFox ( 739806 )

      What's the next part of the business plan? As long as you house them and feed them you can make them work 21 hour days for you?

      That wont work out. Uber generally expects employees to provide their own vehicles.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Re Business plan?
      More refugees get allowed in, the more gov funding flows.

  • That illustrates to the none-American readers how Trump happened.

    • You mean arrogant elitism, looking down your nose at your countrymen who were driven to destitution by the very system responsible for your own prosperity, and patronizing fetishization of "exotic" foreign cultures and peoples? Yeah, that attitude among the bourgeoisie does tend to enrage the plebs.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by quax ( 19371 )

        Totally makes sense then to vote for a billionaire, at least with him you can be totally sure about his attitude towards the plebs. No surprises.

        Pretty much the entire Trump presidency so far goes as was to be expected.

        I guess if you feel you're in the shitter voting for a shit show has a certain perverse logic to it. Won't help you, but at least you get to piss off a lot of people.

        Since I get to observe this form a distance I must admit it is entertaining. Trump always amused me.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by OhPlz ( 168413 )

      Yes, we don't want barbarian invaders destroying our communities. Shocking. If you want to live with endless terror attacks, head over to London or Paris.

  • I'm very serious: what a great idea!

    I'm so tired of the progressive crowd saying "let's you take in a few million refugees", but somehow never in their neighborhoods. So this is the chance for the progressives to put their guest rooms where their mouths are.

    I hope that this is done fairly, i.e., Airbnb doesn't just front for housing that was already designated for refugees. If so, then we will see just how many liberals really practice what they preach.

    I predict that the offers of rooms will be very sparse,

    • The problem is that both ends of the political spectrum are full-bore for the influx of foreigners. The bleeding heart lefties because of the poor, poor war victims, the cold blooded right wingers for the cheap, expendable labor and the increased pressure on the wages they represent.

      We're fucked.

  • I don't want Jihadi's in my house. They will not be grateful [dailymail.co.uk], and may kill [express.co.uk] you.
  • Now all the people AirBnB have indirectly made homeless through local rents being jacked up, by AirBnB making it easy to illegally convert rentals into short-term-lets, will be able to rely on the charity of the greedy people who have exploited this opportunity in the first place. Great plan, guys - nothing cynical in this PR move at all.

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