RV rental company Outdoorsy kicked its disaster relief program into high gear to help provide short-term accommodations for families displaced by Hurricane Ida. Outdoorsy is working with its community of 40,000-plus RV owners and its partner RV Housing Group to make vehicles available to those affected by the storm.
The storm left more than a million Louisiana residents without electricity and hundreds of thousands of residents without running water as of Monday morning.
“We are devastated by the pictures we’re seeing and the stories we have heard from the aftermath of Hurricane Ida,” said Outdoorsy’s co-founder and chief marketing officer, Jen Young. “The best way we know how to help is to engage our strong community of RV owners and get temporary housing accommodations on the ground for victims of the storm.”
RV owners interested in getting involved with relief efforts, particularly owners of fifth wheels and travel trailers, can start by creating an RV listing at Outdoorsy.com/list-your-rv and then filling out Outdoorsy’s temporary housing intake form. Outdoorsy owners who already have a listing on the site simply need to fill out the form to make their vehicle eligible for the program.
Outdoorsy is lowering its platform fee structure and teaming with the owners to provide special rates to those in need. In addition, RV Housing Group is working with victims’ insurance companies to cover all vehicle rental expenses at no cost to those in need of relief and temporary housing.
“In our six years of existence, one of our core values has always been to repay our gratitude in the world,” said Outdoorsy’s co-founder and CEO Jeff Cavins. “We hope that the efforts of our RV owner community to offer those displaced by Ida a safe place to stay serves as a small token of encouragement to these families as they start to assess the damage and get back on their feet.”
