Airbnb partners with refugee contracting agency to put-up refugees worldwide

Volunteers must open their minds along with their rooms…

(Airbnb)

The International Rescue Committee, one of nine federal resettlement contractors***, is always working the angles with David Miliband (former British Foreign Secretary) as it CEO.  LOL! But watch out! the British national, making decisions about who is resettled in places like Montana, might soon jump ship—could there be some upward mobility for him back in the UK now that the government there is turning far Left?

Here is the news about the “deal” where the IRC will get a million bucks a year from Airbnb for the next 4 years and the users of the service are expected to offer up 100,000 rooms for refugees in the coming year.
From Non-Profit Quarterly:

Can a disruptive for-profit company make a difference in the international refugee crisis? Airbnb and eight nonprofit partners are investing in the idea via a new technology platform that connects rooms and refugees.

Airbnb emerged as a progressive influencer following the November election at a time when corporations had been taking stands on controversial issues with both altruistic and capitalistic intentions.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order temporarily blocking travel from seven (later changed to six) majority-Muslim countries, which has repeatedly been blocked by various courts as discriminatory and is now headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The order and four-month hiatus on accepting new refugees devastated the network of refugee resettlement agencies, where hundreds of jobs have been cut since the President’s executive order. They had expected to receive 110,000 refugees this year from war-torn countries like Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The rich get richer.  The IRC budget must be north of $700,000,000 million!  (It was $688,000,000 in 2015, here. 66% of it comes from taxpayer dollars!)

While it’s laudable that the company is also giving what nonprofits really need—cash—in addition to time and talent, its goal is incredibly ambitious. Airbnb has pledged $1 million annually to the International Rescue Committee over the next four years.

[….]

Indeed, the need is great, with more than 40 million internally displaced persons around the world, including 20 million who qualify as refugees under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees mandate. But, Airbnb will have a lot of marketing to do, with only 6,000 of their 3.5 million users signed up to provide temporary shelter. Further, significant backlash to resettlement programs around the world means demand is outpacing supply for visas, let alone homes. And, thorny issues could arise for a company that has faced discrimination suits.

So, as Airbnb has made clear on Open Homes, volunteers must open their minds along with their rooms.

Frankly, I’ve always thought this was the dumbest and most dangerous thing naive people can do—put up complete strangers in their spare bedrooms (for a few bucks)!
See my ‘David Miliband’ archive by clicking here.  Hillary loves him!  Since he makes about $600,000  a year running the IRC, you might say that the Airbnb contribution will cover that with a bit left over for the refugees.
***The nine contracting agencies that monopolize the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program are these: