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Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

bbc.com

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Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#31

Post by gruez »

eat_veggies wrote: post #20
coding123 wrote: post #3

I think there are about 500K Homeless in America, would it make sense to first offer about 20K of them some free housing?

If you think this is some gotcha (you can't help with Afghan refugees during a crisis until you've solved homelessness ?) then you never cared about the homeless in the first place, and are using them as a pawn when it's useful to dunk on the middle east.

>then you never cared about the homeless in the first place

That's a bit presumptuous, don't you think? There's nothing inherently contradictory about "we need to look after americans before look after refugees" and "we need to do something about homelessness". The only contradiction is that the former is a policy of one political party, and the latter is a policy of the other political party.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#33

Post by vincentmarle »

batch12 wrote: post #6
coding123 wrote: post #3

I think there are about 500K Homeless in America, would it make sense to first offer about 20K of them some free housing?

Oddly enough, I don't think the owners would volunteer properties for that.

You think they would for Afghan refugees?

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#34

Post by slumdev »

junon wrote: post #23
Trias11 wrote: post #12

Wouldn't it be easier to make Afghanistan a 51st state? And let 'em keep their culture and religion locally instead of repossessing them?

Are you implying that the US has rights over Afghanistan?

It did until a few days ago.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#35

Post by geofft »

Trias11 wrote: post #12

Wouldn't it be easier to make Afghanistan a 51st state? And let 'em keep their culture and religion locally instead of repossessing them?

If the last 20 years of American presence in Afghanistan are anything to go by, no, it's not actually easier.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#36

Post by oh_sigh »

coding123 wrote: post #3

I think there are about 500K Homeless in America, would it make sense to first offer about 20K of them some free housing?

Many of the visible homeless you see in cities aren't in trouble because they lack housing, they're in trouble because they have untreated mental health and drug addiction problems(which leads to their lack of housing).

Giving them temporary accomodation isn't going to make their lives better in the long term. Giving these 20k Afghans temporary accommodation may actually make their lives better while they transition to permanent housing, because homelessness is actually their biggest problem, not drugs or mental health.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#37

Post by jdavis703 »

eat_veggies wrote: post #20
coding123 wrote: post #3

I think there are about 500K Homeless in America, would it make sense to first offer about 20K of them some free housing?

If you think this is some gotcha (you can't help with Afghan refugees during a crisis until you've solved homelessness ?) then you never cared about the homeless in the first place, and are using them as a pawn when it's useful to dunk on the middle east.

In a world of unlimited resources we should do both. However the refugees are in imminent danger of death (or at least goes conventional national security thinking), whereas most homeless Americans are at least able to scrape by.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#38

Post by batch12 »

daniel_iversen wrote: post #27
eat_veggies wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who cares? People are getting shelter, if even for a little bit. This is honestly the most boring kind of cynicism because you've offered no real critique and no consideration of the people who have been forcefully displaced and can now have a place to stay.

Agree! Even if AirBnB didn't do it for the right reason (which I have no reason to believe they did - why always so cynical!?) the people in desperate immediate and "short term" need get help! (this is also why it's different to the homelessness issue, which seems more like a systemic issue that the cities and countries should honestly be ashamed of).

Yeah, unfortunately I default to cynic with just about all companies. I wish for a world where someone with the resources like this at their disposal thinks, "Oh shit, what can I do?" without thinking about the PR.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#39

Post by Manuel_D »

coding123 wrote: post #3

I think there are about 500K Homeless in America, would it make sense to first offer about 20K of them some free housing?

I disagree. Most homeless are sheltered, and the unsheltered homeless are largely in their situation due to mental health and drug issues which tend to persist. By comparison, these Afghan refugees are likely going to try and connect with the Afghan diaspora and get jobs and eventually become independent of this support system. Not to mention, the risk of lodgings being trashed by the inhabitants is likely much less - that is what happened when Seattle metro hotels were converted to homeless shelters during lockdown.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#40

Post by shadowgovt »

gruez wrote: post #31
eat_veggies wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think this is some gotcha (you can't help with Afghan refugees during a crisis until you've solved homelessness ?) then you never cared about the homeless in the first place, and are using them as a pawn when it's useful to dunk on the middle east.

>then you never cared about the homeless in the first place That's a bit presumptuous, don't you think? There's nothing inherently contradictory about "we need to look after americans before look after refugees" and "we need to do something about homelessness". The only contradiction is that the former is a policy of one political party, and the latter is a policy of the other political party.

> and the latter is a policy of the other political party.

Can you give an example? I'm honestly stumped trying to think of one concrete policy initiative put forward on this topic.

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