Prime Minister Juha Sipilä has promised to accommodate asylum-seekers coming to Finland in his little-used home in Kempele, near Oulu, saying he wants to encourage all Finns to help with the refugee crisis.
Sipilä travels to Oulu today Saturday to discuss the lack of crisis accommodations there and to finalise the handing over of his Kempele home to house refugees. The Prime Minister has also appealed to churches and volunteer organisations to help with the growing need for accommodations.
Sipilä cites a "lack of solidarity" as a Europe-wide problem in sharing the responsibility of aiding asylum-seekers fleeing from crisis zones.
"I hope this becomes some kind of people's movement that will inspire many to shoulder part of the burden in this refugee housing crisis," Sipilä says. "What we need now is a show of compassion."