Homelessness on wane but still below target

Homelessness has decreased in Finland, but the trend is not enough to reach the target of abolishing homelessness by the year 2027, said the Ministry of the Environment on Thursday, quoting a survey.

Finland is the only country in Europe that has managed to reverse the trend in homelessness.

According to a survey conducted by the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland ARA in 2021, there were 3,948 homeless people living alone.

Homelessness has decreased during the time of implementation of a government programme called “Cooperation Programme to Halve Homelessness”.

According to the Government Programme, homelessness should be halved during this government tenure and abolished by 2027.

During 2020 homelessness decreased by 5.6% and during 2021 by 9%. During the previous programme on homelessness the decrease was 2–5.1%.

The Ministry of the Environment has appointed Juha Kaakinen to examine ways to achieve the objective to eradicate homelessness.

“Having a home is a fundamental right, and it is quite untenable that this is not realised in a prosperous welfare state like Finland. We need reasonably priced apartments, sufficient social security and services that support housing. Even if the trend is in the right direction, it is clear that we have not yet done enough,” said Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Maria Ohisalo.

The proposal of the Rapporteur to be completed by the end of January 2023 explores concrete measures that are needed to eradicate homelessness and the role of different stakeholders in this work.

Previously, Kaakinen served as CEO of Y-Foundation and Programme Director of the programme to reduce long-term homelessness.

“The particular strengths of Finland in reducing homelessness include the solid political consensus on the importance of the matter and cooperation among a broad spectrum of actors. With these strengths, it is quite possible to eradicate homelessness permanently, despite the current challenges,” Kaakinen said.

Especially in the largest urban areas, where the majority of the homeless also live, housing prices cause problems especially for low-income individuals and special groups. The nature of homelessness has changed so that even more often it is associated with financial problems and even larger numbers of people are at risk.

Housing advice has proven an effective means to avoid losing one’s home due to financial reasons. The legislative proposal of the Ministry of the Environment would improve access to housing advice, and this year the municipalities have already hired 23 new housing advisors.

“Housing advice can help people with their life management capabilities. It can prevent a wretched circle where financial problems lead to homelessness, which in turn aggravates the financial problems. With the additional funding granted by the State we can make sure that municipalities will continue to offer housing advice free of charge,” Ohisalo said.

The reasons behind homelessness are manifold, which means that social services and specialised housing services are also needed. Healthcare and social welfare services have an important role in making sure that a person who has suffered from homelessness and has found a home is also able to keep it.