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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

#41

Post by trompetenaccoun »

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.

The covid crisis is affecting marginalized groups like the homeless or people with psychological problems among the hardest, because numbers of beds in clinics and shelters have been reduced, hospitals are busy and access is in cases restricted, everyone is dealing with ever-changing mandates, and many people simply have their own lives to worry about so no one cares for them.

At the same time many hotels and airbnbs are under capacity because travel is restricted. It is a fair question why the homeless aren't hosted there. We don't have to expect Airbnb to pay for it but the government could if they actually cared about people, instead of terrorizing school kids and bankrupting the state with neverending lockdowns and restrictions.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#42

Post by gruez »

jdavis703 wrote: post #37
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.

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.

>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.

If we're using the utilitarian argument, shouldn't we be pouring money into effective altruism (eg. bill gates funding malaria prevention programs), which do a even better job at preventing death?

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#43

Post by TulliusCicero »

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?

Compared to helping these refugees? Probably not.

Airbnb will probably house these refugees for a few weeks or months until they have more permanent housing from a non-profit or the government or they're simply on their feet. While refugees may have more needs than the average person, as a group they don't have the widespread problems with mental health and substance abuse that the unsheltered homeless population does.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't help the homeless, but it does mean that's a much heavier ask, one more suited to either the government, or non-profits specifically targeted at the issue.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#44

Post by kyawzazaw »

narrator wrote: post #21

Would you prefer to stay in a hotel or a refugee shelter? That's what this campaign says to me at the gut level. Might be nice and altruistic, but it's kind of lousy brand marketing.

does't matter to me, if it helps some Afghan people get some help

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#45

Post by throwawaysea »

I find it interesting that Airbnb has banned many conservative people and groups from using their service but readily make room for Afghan refugees. These discriminatory practices are always wrapped in virtuous justifications but are never applied to the other political side. And how does this move make sense when they could be doing the same for homeless people already in America and elsewhere, who are clearly deprived of housing supply by companies like Airbnb that have skirted regulations and potentially broken the law. Lastly this is so glaringly a PR move to basically gain amplified marketing via news outlets and social media, that it makes me despise them even more.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#46

Post by gruez »

shadowgovt wrote: post #40
gruez wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

random result:

>As part of President Joe Biden's new infrastructure plan, he unveiled nearly $5 billion in new grants to state and local governments for rental assistance and the development of affordable housing. In doing so, he aims to get 130,000 homeless people into homes.

https://www.newsweek.com/once-homeless-now-im-multi-milliona...

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#47

Post by kyawzazaw »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #15
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #5

Does this settle the argument of whether or not Airbnb displaces local residents and drives up rents? Isn't that an ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by Airbnb?

Is it not fun when companies big and small grab headlines by cynical offers like these. Presumably, once the PR stunt part dies, someone else is going to pay for them? Who I wonder will be that generous donor.

it's temporary

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#48

Post by TulliusCicero »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #9
batch12 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

There's an idea: If you want to convert a dwelling to short stay accommodation you have to also make it available for x days per year for crisis accommodation.

Or we could just, y'know, produce enough homeless shelters or crisis housing ourselves, through the government + taxes.

Trying to twist the private sector's arm into doing this themselves is stupid, it's not their wheelhouse, just tax their profits and have the government do it.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#50

Post by jdavis703 »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #9
batch12 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

There's an idea: If you want to convert a dwelling to short stay accommodation you have to also make it available for x days per year for crisis accommodation.

This is how the civil reserve air fleet works. If an airline wants to receive military contracts it has to make a portion of it’s fleet available for emergency use.

I’m personally not a big fan of these sorts of neoliberal public private partnerships. But at least with conventional thinking it’s not that bad of an idea. Not sure why you’re getting all these downvotes.

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