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Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

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Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stunt, then, as AirBNB isn't providing any free housing. You're just going to browbeat people who offered "housing to displaced neighbors and relief workers" to underwrite "your" provision of housing to people who are neither neighbors nor relief workers.

You make biased judgement without knowing how the service actually works. If you had a look at the disaster response page of Airbnb, as just did I, you'd find that the UX flow is different. You select the disaster first and then offer your housing, which means the hosts are informed about their potential guests.

>You select the disaster first and then offer your housing, which means the hosts are informed about their potential guests.

Yes, you do. What is AirBnB's role besides providing the platform?

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#52
post #36

Why have not you done that before for existing homeless people or other people in need? This just smells like ugly marketing scheme. I mean, it is good if someone in need is helped, but why now and why that wording and scope to only refugees?

That's dumb argument, sorry. Disaster relief is temporary and help is provided to people who suffer from external circumstances. Housing for homeless is a daily job for the government and it is different, significantly bigger problem, for which the solution is not affordable for any single private organization or person. Private organizations have limited resources and they have the right to choose whom to support fi…

Governments have, and should have, limited resources as well. Where do you think the government obtains its resources..

From private organizations and individuals. Thus if the problem is to large for Private Organizations and Individuals to handle collectively, then it is to hard for government as well

Housing for Homeless is also a job the government continually fails at and is infact today primary provided for by private organizations using money donated by private organizations and individuals (at least in the US)

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#53
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's dumb argument, sorry. Disaster relief is temporary and help is provided to people who suffer from external circumstances. Housing for homeless is a daily job for the government and it is different, significantly bigger problem, for which the solution is not affordable for any single private organization or person. Private organizations have limited resources and they have the right to choose whom to support fi…

Governments have, and should have, limited resources as well. Where do you think the government obtains its resources.. From private organizations and individuals. Thus if the problem is to large for Private Organizations and Individuals to handle collectively, then it is to hard for government as well Housing for Homeless is also a job the government continually fails at and is infact today primary provided for by p…

> Thus if the problem is to large for Private Organizations and Individuals to handle collectively, then it is to hard for government as well

While that's a trivial tautology, in that the government is the mechanism by which a society acts collectively, it's utterly false in the way that you meant it. Government can coordinate resource deployment more effectively than a hodgepodge of private organizations.

> Housing for Homeless is also a job the government continually fails at and is infact today primary provided for by private organizations using money donated by private organizations and individuals

Fails at how? The (few) governments that are genuinely pursuing housing the homeless seem to be doing a fine job at it. The ones that are trying to get away with lip service to the idea are, well, getting away with it.

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#54

Airbnb should run a promotion for free nights at hosts who live within a mile of a Trump property. He'd notice if someone was trying to take business off him, even nominally.

> Airbnb should run a promotion for free nights at hosts who live within a mile of a Trump property. How much longer do you think AirBnB's regulation flouting would last if they went to war with the President?

Given that the benefits of renting ones house out on Airbnb accrue almost exclusively to coastal 'liberals' the regulation flouting is possibly not long for this world anyway.

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#55
post #14

Excellent news on an otherwise pretty terrible day. Brian Chesky and the entire Airbnb team are showing America at its very best: forward-looking, innovative, diverse, multicultural and. The contrast with the Trump-type people -- primarily angry, insular, bitter old people who are terrified of brown people and still live within 10 minutes of their high school -- could not be more striking.

Your post demonstrates you have no idea of what Trump supporters are like.

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#56

Airbnb should run a promotion for free nights at hosts who live within a mile of a Trump property. He'd notice if someone was trying to take business off him, even nominally.

Wouldn't want to inadvertently contribute to Trump's wealth. Where can I find a list of his business interests?

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#57
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's dumb argument, sorry. Disaster relief is temporary and help is provided to people who suffer from external circumstances. Housing for homeless is a daily job for the government and it is different, significantly bigger problem, for which the solution is not affordable for any single private organization or person. Private organizations have limited resources and they have the right to choose whom to support fi…

Well, US gov (Clinton and Obama) created this refugees in the first place. They are all coming from the areas that this administrations ruined in one way or another.

> They are all coming from the areas that this administrations ruined

You do realize that this started when US under Bush invaded a country which had nothing to do with 9/11.

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#58
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Governments have, and should have, limited resources as well. Where do you think the government obtains its resources.. From private organizations and individuals. Thus if the problem is to large for Private Organizations and Individuals to handle collectively, then it is to hard for government as well Housing for Homeless is also a job the government continually fails at and is infact today primary provided for by p…

> Thus if the problem is to large for Private Organizations and Individuals to handle collectively, then it is to hard for government as well While that's a trivial tautology, in that the government is the mechanism by which a society acts collectively, it's utterly false in the way that you meant it. Government can coordinate resource deployment more effectively than a hodgepodge of private organizations. > Housing…

>>Government can coordinate resource deployment more effectively

While it is possible for the government do accomplish this in theory, it fails more often than not. Taking in huge amounts of resources including money and wasting them with inefficient bureaucracy and corruption as you have proven with the rest of your comment

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#59
post #39

Unfortunately this will look like a PR move. Why can't ordinary people step in to host the people affected for this short period?

Good idea too, but that's harder to organize (on a practical level and at scale).

Re: Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the US

#60
Airbnb IS NOT providing free housing. Airbnb isn't paying for housing refugees. Potential hosts can offer free housing, which just makes Airbnb like Couchsurfing. So Airbnb isn't paying for anything here or even giving anything for free.

People who really want to help can use CouchSurfing web site instead of promoting a for profit business.

If Airbnb offered free housing it would mean they would actually pay the host to house refugees, they are not.

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