Airbnb opens up housing for 20,000 Afghan refugees globally

A Pakistani paramilitary soldier stands guard while Afghan families enter Pakistan through a border crossing point in Chaman, Pakistan, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Jafar Khan)

In this Aug. 16, 2021, file photo hundreds of people gather near a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane along the perimeter at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. After the Taliban takeover, employees of the collapsed government, civil society activists and women are among the at-risk Afghans who have gone into hiding or are staying off the streets. They hope for a way to leave their homeland. (AP Photo/Shekib Rahmani, File)

Afghan people who were transported from Afghanistan, walk after disembarking a plane, at the Torrejon military base as part of the evacuation process in Madrid, Monday. Aug. 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

In this Monday, March 13, 2017, file photo, Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky is interviewed during a luncheon meeting of the Economic Club of New York. The CEO of Airbnb says that the home-sharing company will start offering free housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees globally on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021. “The displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the U.S. and elsewhere is one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time. We feel a responsibility to step up," Brian Chesky wrote on Twitter. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, FIle)

Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky speaks during an event in San Francisco, in this Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018, file photo. The CEO of Airbnb says that the home-sharing company will start offering free housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees globally on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021. “The displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the U.S. and elsewhere is one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time. We feel a responsibility to step up," Brian Chesky wrote on Twitter. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, FIle)

Airbnb opened the doors of its properties to 20,000 Afghan refugees globally Tuesday and sought assistance from hosts who rent property through the home-sharing company for more free housing for those fleeing the crisis.

“The displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the U.S. and elsewhere is one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time. We feel a responsibility to step up," said CEO Brian Chesky on Twitter. “I hope this inspires other business leaders to do the same. There's no time to waste."

The UN Refugee Agency said last month that an estimated 270,000 Afghans had been newly displaced inside the country since January – primarily due to insecurity and violence – bringing the total uprooted population to over 3.5 million.

White House officials said 28 U.S. military flights ferried about 10,400 people to safety out of Taliban-held Afghanistan over 24 hours that ended early Monday morning, and 15 C-17 flights over the next 12 hours brought out another 6,660.

Airbnb has a history of making free shelter to those in need through its Airbnb.org.

Since 2012, Airbnb.org has housed 75,000 people fleeing or responding to a crisis, from COVID-19 health workers and earthquake or fire evacuees or responders, to refugees.

Hosts are allowed to sign up for the program through Airbnb.org.

“If you’re willing to host a refugee family, reach out and I’ll connect you with the right people here to make it happen!,” Chesky wrote Tuesday.

Airbnb operates in approximately 100,000 cities in almost every country and region across the world.