The American Dream of graduating college, landing a six-figure job, and moving into a white picket-fenced home is slipping out of reach. More Gen Zers and millennials are stuck living with their families than ever—so now Airbnb is investing a quarter of a billion dollars to help turn the tide.
Airbnb recently announced an initial $250 million investment to help build more affordable rental homes in the U.S. and abroad.
America has a housing crisis. Over 15 million homes are sitting empty, representing around 10% of the country’s total housing supply, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau data.
As the housing shortage shows little sign of letting up, corporations are joining the effort to get more homes built—especially as America has struggled to build at pace with housing demand.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky even acknowledged the criticism that his own company has gobbled up supply for long-term residents and made cities more expensive to live in. But instead of turning a blind eye, he hopes the $250 million investment will ease the affordability crunch.
“Airbnb has been a place people pointed to over the last 15 years, especially the last decade…for reasons why cities are expensive,” Chesky told Time in a recent interview. “And so we have wanted to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”
The company estimates that the initiative would unlock $5 billion in capital investments over the next decade. Altogether, the “Housing Accelerator” will accelerate capital deployment, support pro-housing policy reforms, improve construction technology, and help remove barriers to break ground and get more homes on the market.
But its first priority is helping lower-cost and mixed-income projects break ground—starting with a $6.4 million investment to support the development of over 200 affordable housing units in Austin, Texas.
It’s also launching a $5 million Airbnb housing innovation prize for companies and non-profits making it easier and cheaper to build a home.
America has a housing crisis—forcing Gen Zers and millennials to live at home
Around 750,000 housing units in America have met regulatory standards, but still lack financial commitment to break ground, according to research commissioned by the short-term rental giant.
And hundreds of thousands of other housing projects are currently in limbo.
Airbnb’s fund is most focused on “last-dollar” financing, which can mean the difference between new builds being stalled or finally moving forward.
And it’ll be good news for entry-level professionals who are clinging to their childhood bedrooms and pillaging their family fridges.
A record 25.2 million U.S. adults under the age of 35 lived with their parents in 2025—representing about one in three young adults—according to a 2026 report from Reatlor.com. That’s even higher than the pandemic-era surge, when many budding professionals returned home to ride out the pandemic with their loved ones.
However, it doesn’t mean that Gen Zers and young millennials are jobless and mooching off their family resources.
In fact, around 70% of 25 to 34-year-olds who still live at home with their parents are actually employed, according to the report. Most workers are delaying their flight from the nest because of the affordability crisis—as the lowest professionals on the corporate totem pole, their rock-bottom salaries, job instability, and lack of savings are keeping them home.
“The growth [of young generations living at home] is coming from working adults, not people waiting to find jobs,” Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com and author of the report, said in the study. “Something about their income level, debt load, or the cost of housing in their market is keeping them home despite steady employment.”
And the burden doesn’t stop with young adults—it’s increasingly spilling over onto their Gen X and baby boomer parents. Around 64% of parents with Gen Z children aged 18 to 28 said that their adult kids still rely on them for money, housing, or other financial support, according to a 2026 survey from Wells Fargo.
And their continued support has led to a money pinch for many, as 56% reported that assisting their grown-up offspring is straining their own finances.
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