Good morning. As the deadly wildfires continue to rage in the Los Angeles area, Airbnb, the short-term rental company, is mobilizing its hosts to house those in need.
I had a conversation with Airbnb CFO Ellie Mertz yesterday, who explained that Airbnb.org, a nonprofit founded by Airbnb that provides free emergency housing, is partnering with 211 LA, a group that is identifying Los Angeles County residents in need of temporary housing. They are specifically focused on residents who have either lost their homes or been forced to evacuate in the Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Sylmar areas. Airbnb encourages those in need of assistance for free temporary housing to fill out this form or contact 211 LA.
Existing Airbnb hosts, and those who aren’t registered hosts, who want to open up their homes during this time of need are encouraged to volunteer, Mertz said. Hosts who sign up to share their homes through Airbnb.org receive damage protection and liability insurance with AirCover for each booking.
“In these moments of real stress for community members, we can mobilize our hosts, partner with nonprofits and open up those homes,” Mertz said. “It's the right thing to do.”
Airbnb.org is a nonprofit with its own board and it’s independent of Airbnb, Inc. “But we work very closely with them, and the company has been extremely generous through the years in terms of supporting the organization,” she said.
For more than a decade, Airbnb.org has provided more than 1.6 million nights of emergency stays for more than 250,000 people, according to the organization. Some examples of other recent crises where assistance was provided include the outbreak of the Ukrainian war, the earthquake affecting Turkey and Syria, and the Maui wildfires, Mertz said.
I asked Mertz how Airbnb, the company, prepares for events like natural disasters. The firm has encountered these types of disruptive events, repeatedly every year, she said. And Airbnb has policies in place to activate when a particular region is impacted.
“We make cancellations much easier for both hosts and guests to respond to whatever the circumstances are on the ground and to ensure that they have the flexibility to remain safe given the circumstances,” she said.
Airbnb, a Fortune 500 company, is headquartered in San Francisco. However, it has a “Live and Work Anywhere” policy. I asked Mertz if any of the company’s employees were impacted by the wildfires.
“Part of our efforts over the last 48-plus hours has been to communicate and support our hosts and activate Airbnb.org,” she said. “We've also been checking in on employees. To date, we believe all of our employees are accounted for and safe.”
Take care. See you on Monday.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
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