Airbnb Donates $500 Million to Airbnb.org for Emergency Housing

Airbnb will donate $500 million to its independent nonprofit, Airbnb.org, over the next five years. The funds are designated to expand emergency housing programs for people displaced by natural disasters and those traveling for medical care.

The company stated it will contribute 10 cents from every booking toward this total. If booking volume falls short of the target, Airbnb will cover the difference to meet the $500 million goal. This funding model is expected to support 1 million nights of free housing per year. The amount is more than double the total contributions reported by Airbnb.org between 2021 and 2025.

Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, announced the pledge on Wednesday. He said the commitment reflects the company's use of its "natural superpower" to do the "right thing." Chesky acknowledged that some hosts remove a small fraction of local housing from the market but denied that Airbnb is the primary cause of rising city costs. "I don't like this idea that somehow you create a nonprofit to make up for or apologize for your core business," Chesky told The Associated Press.

Critics argue the donation may serve to soften the impact of short-term rentals on local housing availability. Murray Cox, founder of the data project Inside Airbnb, said the company contributes to the global housing crisis by taking millions of residential units off the market. Karolina Mikołajewska-Zając, a postdoctoral fellow at Copenhagen Business School, suggested the growing philanthropic footprint could help legitimize the presence of short-term rentals as governments in Spain and New York move to curb the practice.

Airbnb.org was launched in 2020 and has provided 1.6 million nights of free housing in nearly 140 countries. The nonprofit uses company-donated credits to book stays for beneficiaries, including survivors of domestic violence and families displaced by wildfires. During the August wildfires in Washington state, the organization provided more than 1,400 nights of free housing.

The organization is expanding its medical stays program to 20 countries by the end of the year. In Mexico, the program partnered with Vuela Fundación to support children with cancer. Diego Parada Herrera, co-founder of Vuela Fundación, said the credits help families who otherwise might sleep in tents or parked cars outside hospitals. The nonprofit stocks fridges in guest homes with ready-to-cook food packages for these families.

Christoph Gorder, executive director of Airbnb.org, described the short-term housing model as an "ambulance that will get you to the hospital." He noted that the new funding provides more reliable annual money than previous ad hoc donations. Noah Patton, director of disaster recovery at the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said such assistance is key to preventing initial displacement but emphasized the need for long-term solutions so people have homes to return to.