Airbnb launches scheme in Milan where hosts can offer their homes to refugees

The site has launched a new initiative allowing Italians to lend spare rooms and apartments to refugees and migrants

Milan residents can open their doors to refugees through Airbnb (Getty Images)

Airbnb has launched a feature enabling Milan residents to offer up their spares rooms or apartments to refugees and migrants.

The home rental site partnered with the local authorities, the Refugees Welcome Italia NGO and the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Catholic organisation, to create the Open Homes Refugees scheme.

The project launched on Wednesday 5 July and has already seen over 100 people sign up.

“We will support this beautiful initiative in any way possible, and we are very proud of Milan for being the first city to launch it in Italy,” said Pierfrancesco Majorino, Milan’s councillor for social affairs. “Milan citizens are always very supportive of new and challenging projects, among many the one launched a year and half ago where families hosted refugees from all over the world.

“They have been very intense experiences, both for the families and for the refugees, but we’re proud to be involved in vital work that’s still ongoing.”

The new initiative was inspired by last year’s Open Homes Project, which saw residents open up their homes to the relatives of those hospitalized in Milan.

Hosts will be able to share their homes with people in need by applying through airbnb.it/welcome/refugees. Active Airbnb hosts can share their listing for free, while new hosts will be taken through the process with a step by step guide on how to create a new listing – this will include identity and security checks.

The two partner NGOs will then will be able to log onto the site to check availability and book beds for their clients.

Milan is a pilot city for the programme, but anyone can register their listing on Open Homes across Italy.

The country has been inundated by refugees over the last few years. In the last week of June alone, more than 10,000 refugees arrived from Africa via the Mediterranean route. The total number since the beginning of 2017 is reportedly 85,000.