Free Airbnb Housing Offered In Virginia For Florence Evacuees

Airbnb has activated its Open Homes program in Virginia and elsewhere to help house people who've been evacuated due to the approaching Hurricane Florence. In the event of emergencies like Hurricane Florence, Airbnb activates its host community through its Open Homes.

The platform allows residents who have been displaced, as well as emergency relief workers and volunteers who are coming in to assist, to find temporary accommodation with local Airbnb hosts who are opening their homes free of charge. Airbnb waives all booking fees.

Participating metro areas include Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Richmond and Roanoke in Virginia; Asheville, Charlotte and Greensboro and Winston-Salem in North Carolina; Anderson, Columbia, Greenville, Rock Hill and Spartanburg in South Carolina; Atlanta, Athens, Augusta and Macon in Georgia; and Chattanooga, Knoxville, Johnson City and Kingsport in Tennessee.

The free listings are available from Sept. 10 until Oct. 1. The program was launched in 2012 to help people find safe, welcoming places to stay after natural disasters, wars, conflict, and other events. Since then, the program has offered thousands of people shelter from natural disasters and other events.

Over 300 hosts have signed up so far. Airbnb encourages other hosts in the program area to open their homes to evacuees.

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The latest tracking shows the hurricane making landfall in the Carolinas late Thursday to early Friday. While the hurricane could take a westward path throughout the weekend, it could turn northward with much of Virginia in the impact area. By then, it will likely have weakened to a tropical depression, according to the National Hurricane Center.

MORE HURRICANE COVERAGE:

• Hurricane Florence Update: Storm To Have Little Effect On VA
• Hurricane Florence: Free U-Haul Storage At 39 Virginia Locations
• Hurricane Florence: NOVEC Warns Of Possible Power Outages
• Hurricane Florence: Virginia Tech, U.Va. Alter Football Plans

Patch editor Tim Darnell contributed to this report.

This Sept. 10, 2018, GOES East satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Florence as it threatens the U.S. East Coast. As mandatory evacuations begin for parts of several East Coast states, millions of Americans have been preparing for what could become one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to hit the Eastern Seaboard in decades. (NOAA via AP)