Airbnb has pledged $250 million (£190 million) in below-market financing to help restart stalled housing projects, with its first $6.4 million investment going toward an affordable housing development in Austin, Texas. The short-term rental company announced the Airbnb Housing Accelerator, a new program aimed at addressing the U.S. housing shortage by filling funding gaps for construction projects that are ready to begin. According to an official announcement published in the Airbnb Newsroom, the first funding commitment could help unlock more than $5 billion in wider real estate investment over the next decade by providing the final money needed to start construction. Research commissioned by Airbnb estimates that about 750,000 multi-family housing units across the United States have already received planning approval and cleared other regulatory requirements but are still waiting for final construction funding. High interest rates and rising construction costs have made it harder for developers to get traditional commercial loans to cover the final part of their budgets.
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