Airbnb Activates Open Homes Program In ATL For Florence Evacuees

ATLANTA, GA -- Airbnb has activated its Open Homes program in metro Atlanta 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.

Besides Atlanta, other communities that have opportunities to participate in the platform include Augusta, Ga., Charlotte and Greensboro, NC, Charlottesville, Va., and Columbia, Greenville and Spartanburg, SC.

The free listings are available 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.

More coverage on Florence's impact on Georgia from Patch:

• Atlanta Motor Speedway Opening Campgrounds To Florence Evacuees
• Georgia Not Expected To Feel Florence's Wrath, If It Doesn't Turn
• Animals Being Brought To Atlanta Before Hurricane Florence

(Stay on top of all the latest Hurricane Florence news with our free, real-time news alerts, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here. And like Patch on Facebook!)
See safety and preparedness tips below that you should do before the storm gets closer to the US coast.

Photo: This image provided by NASA shows Hurricane Florence from the International Space Station on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018, as it threatens the U.S. East Coast. Hurricane Florence is coming closer and getting stronger on a path to squat over North and South Carolina for days, surging over the coast, dumping feet of water deep inland and causing floods from the sea to the Appalachian Mountains and back again. (NASA via AP)