Dear friends!
It is such a joy to to celebrate the 10 years of Home Accommodation Network. I have been involved in the lively path of the network since it was founded, and I was asked to reflect how it has influenced my life. When pondering that, I figured out four discoveries I have made throughout the years in this community.
First discovery: Power of coming together
Ten years ago people in Finland we were following news about many people arriving in southern and central Europe. These people, searching for asylum, had not yet reached Finland, but we found out about a network of people in Berlin offering asylum seekers accommodation in their homes. Thus I decided to put together a Facebook group for maybe 4 people and suggested we would start preparing for a similar network in Finland. I started planning the accommodation process with these 4 other people. In the meantime I went to a summer cottage and did not use social media for a couple of days. I had not realized that according to the settings of the group, all members could freely add people in the group. Once coming back to the city and social media, after a couple of days…the group had thousands of members. That was how this all started, in different parts and cities of Finland. In a matter of days we had established local groups around Finland, team for IT and website, team of content providers, team for informing the hosts and guests, team to work with Migri and so on. People with refugee background and people seeking asylum were also part of these teams from the beginning. Everything happened fast and without hierarchies. So, Home Accommodation Network has strengthened my belief in the power of people coming together.
Second discovery: Power of personal transformation
This network is not only about roof over ones head, it is about inner transformation. Hosting teaches empathy and adaptability. And living in a new home teaches open-mindedness and perspective. You do not just share a room, you share a piece of yourself. This network has been one of trust and generosity; creating friendships that last long after the stay.
Third discovery: Personal is political
Home Accommodation Network is a proof that hospitality can be stronger than borders. In this community souls of activists live alongside the creativity of community builders. In a society or world of inward-looking nuclear families, broken connections, faceless institutions, normative housing models, bureaucratic paper processes, capitalist utility thinking that neurotically guards and privatizes property, people being reduced to numbers – in the midst of all that, this community builds an alternative – and is counter cultural. We believe in sharing what we have, daring to show our vulnerability, and realizing that no one is helping anyone, but we live a common life. Sometimes it creates mess, yes – but then we clean it up together. So the most important influences I have received from this network are those of solidarity and political awareness.
Fourth discovery: Creativity and care
Some years back I was sharing my appartment with a person from Iraq, let’s call him Ali. It was Christmas time, and I was working in a Lutheran Parish, so it was a season of a lot of work. I happened to mention to Ali that it is a little unfortunate that I do not have the time to prepare for Christmas at home, since I am constantly at work – no time to decorate or cook etc. Ali took this very seriously and mentioned that he can help, he has a lot of time. I told him that he does not have to, but he insisted, so I pointed to a box and mentioned that there are decorations there, if he wants to use them. And I went to work. After coming back home…what did I see…the whole apartment was decorared with serpentiini and balloons (typical Finnish May Day decoration). But it did not matter, we had the best Christmas with Ali and this influenced me so that I believe that care and creativity are far more important than everything going absolutely right and correctly.
What I can finally say is that Home Accommodation Network has influenced my life by teaching me that true wealth lies not in possessions, but in relationships. So let us keep building them also in the next decade to come.
Marjaana Toiviainen
Marjaana Toiviainen is one of the initiators of the Home Accommodation Network and a board member of Kotimajoituksen tuki ry. She delivered this speech at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Home Accommodation Network and its supporting association in December 2025.
