Really strange to call an IRC network 'home'. It's infrastructure. And it's (generally) not a private space for its users. More like a cafe or a co-working space than a home.
It's not all that strange. Many projects or organised groups of people have a "home", call it an HQ if that's easier.
It might not jive with the dictionary definition of a home, but it's a term that's long been used to indicate the central gathering place of (online) communities. Much like how a personal website can be your "home" on the web.
Fair enough. I'd say these channel takeover shenanigans disqualify freenode from being a good candidate for a software project's home or HQ. It makes me doubt that any IRC network can be rightly considered for that role, if this is what such network operators can do to it. It's a security risk.
If there aren't technical security assurances against such interference (I think this is just the facts of IRC) perhaps there is a cultural norm against it (judging from the reaction, seems there is) and IRC networks with reputations for holding to those norms. So some other network might be acceptable to use.
Still, better for software project to have its own website as HQ. Then they can have an SSL cert.
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