Save the Children Sweden partners with Airbnb.org to provide free housing to refugees fleeing Ukraine
- A safe start brings together several non-profit organizations and members of the Swedish business community to provide faster help to people fleeing Ukraine to Sweden, including facilitating temporary accommodation through Airbnb.org.
- With estimates indicating that more than 200,000 Ukrainian refugees may come to Sweden from now until June, there is an urgent need for short-term housing.
- Anyone who wants to offer accommodation to refugees for free or at a discount can sign up Airbnb.org/ASafeStart.
Today, Save the Children Sweden and Airbnb.org has announced a new partnership to provide free, short-term accommodation in Sweden for refugees fleeing Ukraine as part of the A Safe Start initiative.
A safe start brings together several non-profit organizations, including Save the Children, and members from the Swedish business community to provide faster help to people fleeing Ukraine to Sweden. These partnerships complement the work carried out by the Swedish Migration Agency, municipalities and MSB, the Swedish Agency for Civil Protection and Emergency Planning.
Airbnb.org will partner with Save the Children Sweden – who is responsible for booking and coordinating stays for refugee guests, regardless of nationality, race, ethnicity, or how they identify themselves – to connect refugees to available temporary housing in Sweden.
Three weeks ago, Airbnb.org undertook to offer free, short-term accommodation for up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraineand since then, more than 16,700 people across Europe have signed up through Airbnb.org to offer their homes to refugees for free or at a discount.
“Cooperation is a key factor in being able to provide quick help to as many refugees as possible. In an emergency situation like this, there is a great risk that families on the run will be forced into less secure forms of housing in sports facilities, or even tents.” lacks security systems or support structures for families who receive displaced persons A Safe Start in Sweden can make a big difference by gathering everyone who wants to help and those who really need help. At the same time, we can create the safest possible host solutions. “ – Helena Thybell, Secretary General and CEO of Save the Children in Sweden.
Amanda Cupples, General Manager for Northern Europe at Airbnb, said: “Airbnb.org is proud to partner with Save the Children of Sweden, as part of A Safe Start, to help refugees escape the war in Ukraine with free, temporary accommodation through their generous community of hosts. We are so grateful for all hosts who have signed up to welcome refugees to their homes, and encourage everyone who has a place to register Airbnb.org/ASafeStart. ”
Oscar Stege Unger, initiator of A Safe Start in Sweden, said: “The armed conflict in Ukraine creates a situation where millions of people are affected terribly hard. At the same time, there is a huge willingness to help. We use our networks and use our existing skills and tools to contribute to a safer start in Sweden for more refugees. We have already come a long way thanks to the efforts of private individuals, volunteers, aid organizations, the public sector and the business community. ”
Airbnb.org is working with partners across Europe to begin connecting refugees fleeing Ukraine to housing, including International Organization for Migrationas well as the government of Germany. In addition, Utah Jazz Foundation donates to Airbnb.org to provide more than 32,200 nights of temporary accommodation to refugees fleeing Ukraine.
To further support AIrbnb.org’s important work, Airbnb’s co-founders last week – Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, Nathan Blecharczyk and his wife Elizabeth – have personally committed to matching up to $ 10 million in donations to Airbnb.org from March 15, 2022 to March 31, 2022.
Over the past three weeks, Airbnb.org has also received more than $ 6.3 million in direct donations for small dollars from a total of more than 69,000 individual donors in 95 countries.
About a safe start
The initiative A Safe Start brings together several non-profit organizations and members from the Swedish business community and coordinates the various participants’ efforts to help a larger number of refugees. It also channels the Swedish business community’s commitment to offering housing and providing voluntary assistance. In the initial stages, the participating organizations are Save the Children (Save the Children), Stockholm City Mission (City Mission), Skill Shift Initiative (Air Emergency Promotion) and Airbnb.org. Dialogues are also being held with several other organizations such as UNHCR and UNICEF, which have warmly welcomed this initiative. Further cooperation will be sought to contribute even more to meeting the current huge need for support.
About Save the Children
Save the Children is the world’s largest independent child rights organization. Save the Children has been by the children’s side for over a hundred years and focuses on sustainable initiatives – urgent and long-term. With the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a basis, Save the Children works to make children’s rights a reality, in Sweden and around the world. Because when the children become safe, the world becomes safe.
About Airbnb
Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their home in San Francisco and has since grown to 4 million hosts who have welcomed more than 1 billion guest arrivals in over 220 countries and regions. Travel on Airbnb holds more of the economic benefits of tourism for the people and places that make it happen. Airbnb has generated billions of dollars in revenue for hosts, most of whom are individuals who list the homes where they live. Among hosts who report their gender, more than half are women, and one in five host employees is either teachers or caregivers. Travel on Airbnb has also generated more than $ 4 billion in tax revenue around the world. Airbnb has helped develop more than 1,000 short-term rental regulations, including in 80% of our top 200 geographies. In late 2020, to support our continued expansion and diversification, we launched the City Portal to provide governments with a single point of contact that supports data sharing and compliance with local registration rules. We continue to invest in innovations and tools to support our ongoing work with governments around the world to promote travel that best serves communities.
About Airbnb.org
Airbnb.org is a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating temporary stays for people in times of crisis around the world. Airbnb.org operates independently and utilizes Airbnb, Inc.’s technology, services and other resources at no cost to perform Airbnb.org‘s charitable cause. The inspiration for Airbnb.org started in 2012 with a single host named Shell who opened up his home to people affected by Hurricane Sandy. This triggered a movement and marked the beginning of a program that allows Airbnb hosts to provide stays for people in times of need. Since then, the program has been developed to focus on emergencies and to help provide accommodation for evacuees, aid workers, refugees, asylum seekers and most recently frontline workers fighting the spread of covid-19. Since then, hosts have offered to open up their homes and help provide accommodation to 100,000 people in need. Airbnb.org is a separate and independent entity from Airbnb, Inc. Airbnb, Inc. does not charge service fees for Airbnb.org supported stays on their platform.
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