Airbnb Offering Free Lodging To Hurricane Matthew Evacuees

Evacuees from Hurricane Matthew can find emergency shelter inside someone’s home through Airbnb.

Last Tuesday, Airnbn activated its disaster response tool, which lets users who live in safe zones throughout the Southeastern states list their vacant homes and rooms for free. This lets people evacuating from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina find shelter in someone’s home. Airbnb automatically sends an email to hosts in affected areas to see if they would like to open their homes to evacuees.

If you’re a displaced person and are still looking for a place to stay in one of the safe zones, make sure you book a room tonight. Some areas will stop hosting evacuees for free as soon as Oct. 11.

If you’d like to host displaced people in your own home for free, click here. If you have never hosted through Airbnb but would like to help, sign up for an account here.

The first time Airbnb used its disaster response tool was during Superstorm Sandy in New York in 2012, when people throughout New York wanted to host those in need at no charge. Since 2012, thousands of hosts have opened their homes to people affected by the Louisiana floods and Paris attacks. But this is the first time Airbnb activated the tool before the disaster happened, a company spokesperson told the Orlando Sentinel.

There have been over 3,000 hosts offering up their homes to evacuees for free so far. And the storms aren’t over just yet.

As of today, Hurricane Matthew has killed at least 20 people and millions of homes are without power. As Hurricane Matthew turns into a cyclone and weakens, the storm will ride up the East Coast through North Carolina, flooding the streets and cutting power to millions of more residents in the South.

If you’re affected by these storms, take necessary precautions and stay safe.