Nick Kasoff, who has one unit vacant in his 15 Ferguson rental properties, would roll out the red carpet if Airbnb contacted him about sheltering Afghan refugees.
“St. Louis really is a melting pot and if we throw another kind of cheese in there, I think it makes the fondue just a little more zesty,” Kasoff told the St. Louis Record.
Airbnb, a website people use to rent out vacant housing units and vacation homes, is working with hosts in St. Louis to provide temporary housing for Afghanistan refugees, according to media reports.
“Our country owes them because of what they did for us,” Kasoff said. “Most of these Afghan immigrants were people who served as allies to the United States in one way or another and got special considerations to come here.”
However, Missouri is currently experiencing a housing crisis of its own with some St.Louis residents still reeling from the economic impact of pandemic lockdowns and potentially facing eviction as the federal moratorium comes to an end on Oct. 3.
“Maybe Airbnb has enough money to house the refugees for a few months but they don't have the money to house people that have evictions and when you're talking about people that have evictions, that creates another issue in terms of placing people in housing because a lot of housing providers may be reluctant to take people who have been evicted,” Kasoff said.
It’s been widely cited that some 8,000 applications for emergency pandemic rental assistance have been submitted to St. Louis County in an attempt to avoid eviction.
“If you're an Airbnb operator who has allowed somebody who has just been evicted in there, and Airbnb covers the bill for two months and it gets to the end of two months, and they haven't found permanent housing and they refuse to leave, you now have a situation on your hands,” Kasoff said.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, the county has been slow to disburse the relief that would cover applicants’ rent bills.
“There are some landlords who refuse to cooperate and possibly there's an insinuation that some of them don't want to provide their tax ID number because they're not paying taxes on their current rent revenue,” Kasoff added.
“I'd like to see Congress put some heat on these programs. They announced that those entities which have dispersed less than 65% of their round one funds for emergency rental assistance are going to face the possibility that some of their remaining funds will be reallocated to other jurisdictions that have a greater need.”
Since Aug. 17, some 24,000 Afghans have landed in the U.S., according to the Wall Street Journal, and Airbnb.org is reportedly assisting in providing free, temporary housing to the refugees.