Auckland Council considers getting into bed with Airbnb during emergencies

Auckland Council and Airbnb are in talks to offer accommodation to people displaced from their homes after a natural disaster.

The Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group committee has agreed that Auckland Council will enter a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbnb to “provide emergency accommodation for those people that have been affected and displaced from their homes”. The decision was announced at a meeting last week.

Airbnb is an online service that lets people rent out their homes and rooms to travellers.

Craig Glover, head of strategy and planning for Auckland Council, said 7500 Auckland hosts were registered to Airbnb. This number is expected to double every year, he added.

The MoU will be the first agreement of its kind in New Zealand, said Mr Glover.

This “free service” would be available to “emergency service workers who have to travel to Auckland and from outside of the region, and people who have been displaced by a range of disasters”.

At the meeting, Maungakiekie-Tāmaki Ward Councillor Denise Krum said she imagined people would be willing to open their homes if a disaster took place, and questioned whether the agreement would be difficult.

“Is that just space that is too hard to go into and therefore, you just stick with what’s pre-vetted via the Airbnb network?”

Mr Glover said “the next step is to determine how to have those conversations with the [Airbnb] community about opening their doors.”

After the MoU is signed, registered Airbnb hosts will be asked if they’d make their homes available.

“For us to activate this MoU, it will take a very significant event and hopefully we never have to do that.

“It’s good that we’ve got this up our sleeve should we require it.”

In an email received from the office of the Mayor of Auckland, chief press secretary Glyn Jones wrote: “Auckland Council is continually seeking the best ways to protect our citizens in Civil Defence and Emergency Management situations.”

Although the committee approved this forward work, the proposed MoU remains in progress.