Just lost my nyc apartment

[Julie1295]

I am officially homeless.

I lost my job in the beginning of March but I was hopeful I would survive. What made me hopeful? I had longer than usual time to pay my rent and was told there was a relief package for airbnb superhosts.

To our surprise, many of us that were more than eligible didn’t even get an invitation to apply to this 250 million dollars relief package. 

I am 100% sure this was a publicity stunt. And I will not stop until proven wrong. I will share my story as hard as I possibly can and the intensity of my disappointment for this company will be felt in Brian Chesky’s living room as he prepares for his next deceiving video. 

Only shares primary residence? Check

Minimum of 1 year as superhost? Check

Loss of significant percentage? Check

Reliance as significant source of income? Check! Verified identity? Check!

What box did I not check? I’ll never know.

No matter how many times I tried to contact them, all I got were generic answers.

It might be a hard time for the company right now but you dont get to lie to people to look good. Specially if you’re gonna need us in order to get back on your feet! 

Now I can’t host and literally all of my savings are going into the airbnb economy as a homeless guest, thank you very much Brian, you did great. 

[Anonymous]

@Julie1295 First off, I'm very sorry to hear that you've lost your apartment (though I'm perplexed by the fact that you still have active Airbnb listings with available calendar dates under these circumstances). I hope that you'll soon land in a position to put your passion and experience in hospitality to use, but most importantly for now you need a roof over your head and a safe place to get back on your feet. Do you have relatives or friends who are able to give you shelter while you look for work and housing?

Posts like yours illustrate one of the biggest problems I see with Airbnb's messaging on this "host relief" stunt. It definitely wasn't clear to everyone, but they never said that all hosts meeting the stated parameters would be invited to apply. The first priority went to those with 4+ years tenure as Superhosts, and the apparent advantage was for those who had the highest 2019 earnings.  It would have been more realistic to present this as an "MVP" bonus than a charitable aid package.  Sadly, a lot of hosts got their hopes up that help was on the way, and now face a crushing disappointment on top of an already awful situation. Airbnb said that up until May 15 they'll be rolling out more invitations in descending order of priority, but nobody should let their financial plan depend on a grant that few will receive.

There also seems to be some confusion between the two host-targeted projects that were announced at the same time. The $250 million was not for the grants; rather, it's a compensation fund for cancellations, to restore a small percentage of the income hosts would have expected to retain from cancelled bookings under their chosen policies but were denied as a result of the COVID-19 Extenuating Circumstances clause. It's not by invitation, nor is it exclusive to Superhosts.

The program you're referring to was funded with around $17 million; there's not a whole lot to go around. Considering that Airbnb laid off 25% of its employees this week and has been dramatically devalued as a company, it doesn't seem likely that they're looking to expand the budget for giveaways.

I don't doubt that the grants will come through for a lucky few hosts, and Airbnb may get its money's worth for the good will and good press that it generates. But if the message they're putting out is that it's OK for hosts to pin their entire livelihood to Airbnb, and expect their dedication to the company to be reciprocated in kind, that is dirty and dishonest.  

[Julie1295]

I regret not signing in to see your response, Andrew. I did loose all the fight I had in me when I had to pack all of my work but reading your response would've given me a little more peace during LITERALLY the worse time of my life. An MVP bonus sounds right and it makes sense but at the end of the day I don't think my love and trust for airbnb will ever be recovered.

[J243]

I'm curious, how did you lose your apartment when there are no evictions happening right now?

[Julie1295]

You can find the first part of the story here: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/A-little-hope-anybody/td-p/1286012#M279052

The update is that my landlord decided he wanted to renovate and offered to pay monthly for an airbnb and after 2 months, sold the building. I am now living in an illegal basement somewhere in Queens 🙂