UK: Airbnb and Women’s Aid, a charity working to end domestic abuse against women and children, have launched a pilot to provide emergency accommodation to domestic abuse survivors in England through the Airbnb platform.
The pilot will see listings on Airbnb being used to provide temporary accommodation to survivors free of charge, when specialist emergency accommodation [refuge] is not available.
Initially launching in one region in England, the initiative aims to help local survivors leave unsafe domestic environments. To ensure privacy, Airbnb says that it will implement a specialised booking flow that helps protect survivors’ anonymity and complies with Airbnb’s trust and safety processes.
Women’s Aid specialist services in the pilot area will carefully assess the safety needs of survivors before facilitating bookings into available listings on Airbnb. Throughout their stay, all those accommodated will receive “continuous” support from domestic abuse specialists – facilitated by Women’s Aid.
Airbnb first debuted its partnership with Women’s Aid earlier this year on International Women’s Day [8 March], which was marked by a panel event in London to raise awareness about the charity’s efforts to end domestic abuse for good. As part of the partnership, Airbnb made a donation to Women’s Aid through its Airbnb Community Fund, which has pledged to distribute $100 million by 2030 to support communities around the world.
The pilot builds on similar initiatives introduced by Airbnb in the United States, Ireland and across Europe. Some of the company’s existing policies and product features geared towards ensuring women’s safety have been developed with the guidance of expert organisations such as Ujima, Vital Voices, the National Network to End Domestic Violence and Polaris.
Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid, said: “There is a chronic shortage of refuge spaces for women and children fleeing abuse, which resulted in more than half of those seeking refuge being denied a place in the year running April 2022 to March 2023.
“Sadly, as it stands, systemic underfunding has left specialist services unable to meet the demands for their support, making initiatives like this one from Airbnb invaluable. Thanks to Airbnb, survivors will have an avenue of safety at a time when their only other choices may be homelessness or returning to their abuser.
“Domestic abuse is something that impacts our society as a whole, and as such, we know that businesses have an important role to play in ending it. Women’s Aid is extremely grateful to have support from Airbnb as we stand up to abuse and support survivors to live freely and safely,” added Nazeer.
Amanda Cupples, Airbnb general manager for Northern Europe, said: “It is a privilege to continue our partnership with Women’s Aid and to now be able to leverage the power of Airbnb’s network and community so that more women and children can be supported in times of crisis. This pilot is a significant step forward in Airbnb’s commitment to ending domestic abuse globally, and we hope to provide vital assistance to more survivors on the journey to rebuild their lives.”
In addition to providing emergency accommodation, Airbnb has also committed to providing training for its UK-based employees. It aims to educate staff to better understand the signs and impacts of domestic abuse, as well as to enhance skills and knowledge of domestic abuse at all levels.
