Hospitality, a Private Matter? Citizen Hosting Confronting Kafkaesque Policies and Administrative Practices

The concept of hospitality has gained renewed momentum since 2015, particularly at the local level. It is notably reflected in the development of collectives and NGOs engaged in citizen hosting which, in response to the lack of accommodation solutions, provide shelter to migrants.

Although these initiatives fall within the private sphere, they cannot be detached from the public policies within which they operate: the multiplication of immigration laws imposing increasingly complex conditions for obtaining residence status, combined with administrative practices that hinder migrants’ access to their rights and to autonomy.

This study, conducted as part of the work of the Observatory of Citizen Hosting in the Rhône, is based on interviews carried out with hosted individuals, volunteers, and employees of NGOs. Their testimonies, placed within the broader context of migration policies and national administrative practices, highlight the wide range of obstacles faced by migrants in their administrative journeys in France, as well as the broader impacts on their daily lives.

The study also demonstrates the role played by citizen hosting NGOs alongside them, and the barriers encountered by those who mobilize around this form of hospitality.

Through the testimonies collected, a sense of incomprehension and suffering emerges in response to an institutional framework whose rationale often appears difficult to grasp.

This analysis also underscores the determination of actors involved in citizen hosting to continue their mobilisation despite these challenges, and recalls the importance of supporting citizen-led solidarity initiatives which, in addition to assisting migrants arriving in France, contribute to upholding the constitutional principle of fraternity.

This study is not the result of a collective process and reflects only the views of the author.