Hawzah News Agency-An American Muslim of Egyptian origin has launched a new website to allow people to invite refugees to stay in their homes, saying that immigration is about making vulnerable newcomers to the country feel at home which can only be achieved by everyday people.
“EmergencyBnB is not about the government giving you a place to stay,” Amr Araf, an Egyptian immigrant told.
“It’s about the fact that your neighbors care about you.”
Over the past year, Arafa has opened his studio apartment in Washington to refugees and domestic violence victims free of charge, and he’s launched a website to help Americans across the country do the same.
The concept of his site, called EmergencyBnB, resembles Airbnb, where people list their homes or a bedroom for travelers to rent by the night.
But on EmergencyBnB, no money is exchanged and the people looking for places to stay are often in a crisis with nowhere to go.
When he has a guest, he either books a hotel for himself, stays with friends or is traveling.
Over the past months, Arafa started to get new hosts who sign up on EmergencyBnB each week.
“I’m always interested in getting to know other people and cultures, and having people come into your home seems like a great opportunity to do that,” said Steve Graybill, who listed a spare bedroom in his Silver Spring home.
Graybill and his wife read about Arafa’s project in Street Sense, a D.C. newspaper largely written by homeless and previously homeless people.
“It’s a scary thing to open your home to a stranger. It’s OK to be afraid, but we shouldn’t let those fears control us.”
Arafa’s initiative was getting support from Alysha Tagert, a social services program coordinator for the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition.
Working with refugees, Target said it’s difficult to find housing, particularly in the DC area, for the victims her organization encounters.
“It’s incredibly difficult to get a bed anywhere in the city,” she said.
“Public shelters are sometimes very dangerous environments. We’re talking about sometimes very traumatized people going into dysfunctional environments."