What are racial covenants?

Racial covenants are provisions in property deeds that prohibit people of color and sometimes others, such as Jews or Asians, from owning or occupying the property. Though the US Supreme Court ruled racial covenants unenforceable in 1948, and they were formally outlawed by the Fair Housing Act in 1968; these covenants are still memorialized on property deeds across the US.

Airbnb recently made a donation to Mapping Segregation DC to help support their work in raising awareness of and mapping racial covenants and historically discriminatory housing practices in Washington, DC. For Hosts who are not based in Washington DC, Mapping Segregation DC has a list of resources available to help you learn more about the history of racial covenants as well as organizations around the US that are working to identify and remove these covenants.

Our commitment to help to eradicate racial covenants in the US is part of a larger effort to support underrepresented communities by providing pathways to ownership and entrepreneurship opportunities in the travel industry.

See our newsroom article to learn more about racial covenants, and what Airbnb is doing to raise awareness.

How Airbnb is fighting discrimination

We are committed to fighting discrimination on our own platform. All Airbnb Hosts and guests must attest to the Airbnb Community Commitment, which requires everyone who uses Airbnb to treat others without discrimination and with respect. We also changed the way we display profile photos to encourage more objective bookings. To help us more effectively identify and work to eliminate disparities in how our community members experience Airbnb, we’ve also launched Project Lighthouse, a privacy-centric research methodology, in partnership with Color Of Change and guidance from civil rights and privacy experts.

Refer to our Nondiscrimination Policy for more information on how Airbnb continues to combat hate, harassment, and discrimination. If you witness or experience behavior that goes against our policies, please let us know.