Attracted by services and communality 

Housing, Kortepohja, Tenant story / 19.9.2025

Text: Anna-Leena Kauppila | Pictures: Tiina Salminen, Tiitu Design 

Olga Ylönen and Antton Manninen, who met each other at the University of Jyväskylä, are Soihtu veterans: they have lived in Soihtu Vehkakuja, Soihtu Korttelikylä and the Student Village. The couple values especially the good services provided by Soihtu. ”You’ll find almost everything here. It’s a luxury to be able to go to a sauna everyday. There’s always something to do if you want to do something”, Antton describes. In April 2025 the couple moved into the brand new building U with baby Aelia and their dog Isla. 

”We weren’t planning on moving. I was trying to get the baby to sleep and noticed that the application period for building U was about to end on 10 minutes”, tells Olga. The apartment in Korttelikylä was a bit small after the baby was born, so Olga and Antton decided to apply for a three-room apartment from the new building. 

Life in a new building 

”On the moving day, the lift had wrong storey numbers, and the yard was crowded by moving vans. You had to carry your stuff by the stairs because the lift was taken. Despite of the rush and the crowd, everyone was very polite”, Antton and Olga describe the first of April when the majority of new tenants moved into building U. ”When moving into the new building, the apartment was cleaner than they typically are after previous tenants, so we didn’t have to clean so much”, Olga shares a good thing about moving into a building that has just been finished. 

Olga and Antton wonder about the temperature of the apartment during winter. They know that the heating system will not be fine-tuned until the first winter. They haven’t encountered any problems in the new building, although they wanted to give feedback to the stove manufacturer on the dim buttons of the stove. 

Public sauna turns create communality 

Olga and Antton miss the communality of Korttelikylä. ”Everyone greeted each other and I loved it”, Olga reminisces. ”The sauna turns were mainly public. We talked with each other in the saunas, and everyone knew each other.” The couple hasn’t found similar communality in the Student Village. However, they meet lots of people from different cultures in public sauna turns. ”Tenants from all over the world meet in saunas. Typically, the discussion starts by asking where everyone’s from. It’s very nice”, tells Olga. 

Olga wishes that the Student Village had a similar low-treshold meeting place to Olotila in Korttelikylä. In Sunday coffee meetings and other events in Olotila, it was easy to get to know other tenants. 

Olga and Antton are upset about closing the recycling room and the billiard room because of the misuse. ”It would be great if furniture and other items could be recycled better. Many tenants leave items in the hallways which causes a fire hazard, which could happen less if there was a place to leave the items”, visions Antton. ”The billiard room was renovated so nicely, and then people misused it. It pisses me off”, says Olga. 

After this interview, Olga was left thinking whether she would find time to join the tenants’ committee.