In January 2025, wildfires tore through Los Angeles and thousands of families lost their homes. People began searching for anyone who was helping. A few celebrities pointed them to Airbnb.org, the nonprofit founded by Airbnb, which was working with local nonprofit 211 LA to offer displaced families free stays in local homes. Their posts went viral, and donations followed. In the end, Airbnb.org provided nearly 24,000 people with almost 78,000 nights in real homes instead of shelters.
Christoph Gorder, Executive Director of Airbnb.org | Airbnb.org
Today, Airbnb announced a way for every guest to help. Christoph Gorder, Executive Director of Airbnb.org, explains the change. “Starting today, every stay on Airbnb will help house people in crisis, simply by guests traveling the way they always have,” he says. “Nothing changes for guests or hosts. Guests pay nothing extra, and hosts’ payouts aren’t reduced.” Airbnb will donate 10 cents of its revenue from every stay.
“Millions of small actions, from stays booked all over the world, will add up to help millions of people in crisis,” he adds.
Together with other donations, Airbnb.org expects the change to raise $500 million over the next five years. Its goal is to provide 1 million nights of free housing a year within five years, nearly 20,000 nights a week. Airbnb covers Airbnb.org’s operating costs, so all public donations go directly to housing.
Since its launch in 2020, the organization has provided more than 1.6 million nights in total, to over 250,000 people in nearly 140 countries.
Christine Chang, Director of Global Programs and Operations at Airbnb.org, joined the organization two years ago. She saw how strongly the public responded in Los Angeles. “People were just looking for who is helping right now and how can we be part of that,” she says.
“Our mission is very simple,” Chang says. “It is to provide free temporary housing for people in times of crisis.”
From One Host To Millions
Christine Chang, Director of Global Programs and Operations at Airbnb.org | Airbnb.org
The idea traces back to 2012. When Hurricane Sandy hit New York, a host opened her home to people who had nowhere else to go. Other hosts followed.
“That one act of kindness grew into a global movement that inspired Airbnb to found Airbnb.org,” Gorder says. “Wanting to help people in need is simply human nature. Airbnb.org helps scale that kindness around the world.”
That kindness now runs through a simple model. Any home listed on Airbnb can host an Airbnb.org guest, and the nonprofit pays the host for every night. Chang sees paying hosts as Airbnb.org’s responsibility. “Hosts are people who need to pay their bills,” she says. In a disaster area, “that host is suffering too. Their own home may have been damaged.” Chang wants Airbnb.org to be “additive to that community as a whole, to both the host and the guests.” Paying hosts also means no waiting for volunteers. “In a time of disaster, what we want is immediate access,” she says.
Many hosts go further once they learn who their guest is. “They will share meals. They’ll give people rides. They’ll deliver care packages,” Chang says.
Homes Already Standing
After a disaster, governments and aid groups race to set up shelters, bring in trailers and convert school gyms into dormitories. These structures cost money, take time to build and eventually come down. Families wait while the work happens.
Chang starts from a different premise. “When you think about the world of emergency housing, these homes exist already,” she says. “They’re already out there in so many neighborhoods in the world. We don’t have to swing in, we don’t have to build anything and then take it down.”
Airbnb.org draws on what she calls “a force of millions of hosts who know how to host and who want to help.” It also uses Airbnb’s technology platform, which is already built to connect people with homes. “What we’re really focused on at Airbnb.org is giving people a place to stay on their worst day,” Chang says.
“When families need a place to stay, Airbnb.org helps them find one quickly,” Gorder says. This year, nearly 60% of Airbnb.org check-ins happened within 24 hours of booking.
Choice matters as much as speed. “Every family is different,” Chang says. A family displaced by fire might need room for three children, a washing machine, a host who welcomes the dog, and an address close to the kids’ school. The platform lets them find exactly that. This year, almost one in three Airbnb.org stays housed four or more people, and about one in six included a pet.
A Surge In Need
In its early years, Airbnb.org concentrated on major world events. It housed more than 25,000 people fleeing Afghanistan and more than 100,000 fleeing Ukraine. Then the team realized that Airbnb listings exist almost everywhere, and so do crises.
“The need is growing fast, and Airbnb.org is responding to more crises than ever,” Gorder says. In 2023, it responded to eight disasters. This year it has responded to more than 200, including wildfires in France and earthquakes in Japan, Venezuela and Colombia. “Behind every one of those crises are people wondering where they’ll sleep tonight,” he says. “Airbnb.org gives them an answer.”
Airbnb.org works through partners who know their communities, from the Red Cross in many countries to United Way and Rotary Australia World Community Service. “We do all of our work through partners,” Chang says. Those groups know what is happening on the ground and identify the people who need help most.
“We are able to show up for a single house fire,” Chang says. “That is just as devastating to that family as a massive wildfire. So we say no disaster is too small.”
Airbnb.org recently launched a medical stays program, now running with more than 100 partners worldwide | Airbnb.org
Beyond Disasters
“The funding will help us respond to more disasters, and help us to reach people in other situations where a free place to stay brings comfort and stability,” Gorder says. By the end of 2026, it will support families traveling for medical care in more than 20 countries. It is also launching a program for survivors of domestic violence and exploitation and expanding support for U.S. veterans facing serious illness.
Airbnb.org already supports refugees through partners like the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and ORAM, which helps LGBTQ refugees through resettlement. Its medical stays program, running with more than 100 partners, houses families who travel to big cities for treatment such as pediatric cancer care.
“One of the biggest expenses they have is actually not the care itself, it’s the travel,” Chang says.
“We’re also expanding our outreach to nonprofit and government partners, so we can reach more people in more places quickly,” Gorder says.
For leaders, the takeaway is to start with what already exists. Airbnb.org found a shelter system standing in millions of neighborhoods. Now it has added a source of funding that grows with something millions of people do anyway, booking a trip.
Nine Million Doors
Chang keeps one question in front of her every day. “How do we get every single one of our nine plus million homes on the platform to have hosted an Airbnb.org stay at some point?”
“There’s such a huge runway ahead of us,” she says. “I think we’ve got millions more to come.”
With every booking now helping pay for that work, the next family forced from home could find a host already at the door, with help from travelers who simply booked a trip.
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