Finland: On Track to End Homelessness
Finland is the only country in the European Union where homelessness is decreasing.1 It has recorded declining homelessness since 1987, when it launched new policies to tackle homelessness and began keeping records.2 Today, Finland’s renowned “Housing First” approach gives unhoused people an apartment and counseling as soon as they need them – with no preconditions. What’s more, Finland has had a strong social housing program, to ensure there are enough affordable homes available for move-in.3
“The most important thing is that there’s a long-term plan on how to provide the needed affordable social housing. Without that, homelessness is a mission impossible,” says Juha Kaakinen, who helped design Finland’s “Housing First” program. “Shelters should be for very short stays, and there should always be a route forward out of shelters. Starting in 2008, we committed to systemic change in the homelessness policy… We replaced existing shelters and hostels with permanent housing solutions. It's your own rental apartment, with your own rental contract, and there is support staff there. The main thing is that there has to be this housing available.”4
An apartment in Väinölä, a social housing development for formerly unhoused people in Espoo, Finland. (Photographer: Vilja Pursiainen; Y-Foundation)
The Right to Housing: A Government’s Responsibility
Finland’s Constitution includes the right to housing and healthcare. The country maintains safety nets such as social assistance and housing allowances, while healthcare is free or affordable for all. What’s more, to help realize the right to housing, Finland’s government has played an active and lead role every step of the way, to create affordable housing: it finances, produces, and maintains quality social housing, owned by the public or non-profits.
A strong government commitment to directly producing social housing has helped to limit for-profit corporations’ influence over land and housing, and thus keep homes more affordable.
Most land in Helsinki, Finland – 70 percent of land – is owned by the municipal government.5 The government leases this land to social housing providers. Leasing ensures the land remains under public ownership, but is available for a low “land rent,” below market rate, to affordable housing developers that build social housing.6
Local government – rather than non-profits – is the largest owner and provider of social housing in Finland.7 Helsinki has 50,000 publicly owned housing units.8 In contrast, Detroit and Portland, which are cities of comparable size, have just 3,700 and 450 public housing units respectively.9
Finland has ramped up its construction of social housing. Social housing made up nearly 1 in 4 new residential units finished in 2017. That’s an additional 9,000 dwellings in one year.10 The municipality of Helsinki runs its own development company.11
A public bank, Munifin, is the main investor in social housing and provides loans for housing development.12 Munifin is owned by state and municipal governments, as well as Finland’s public sector pension fund.13 The state agency for social housing, Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (ARA), also provides financial support for social housing by providing guarantees on loans, interest subsidies, and grants for energy upgrading.14
Priority access to social housing is given to homeless applicants and those with urgent housing needs; but households can remain in social housing regardless of changes to their financial circumstances over time.15
To counter segregation based on class, Helsinki has maintained a strict housing mix in each new district of 25 percent social housing that is for rent, 30 percent price-regulated housing (often subsidized development and/or on public land), and 45 percent private sector.16 It invests in homelessness prevention through tenant protections and anti-eviction measures.17
That said, unlike in Vienna, where most residents live in social housing, Finland’s social housing houses a minority of residents. Additionally, like other European countries, Finland has not been immune to neoliberal rollbacks in the 1990s. Finland’s social housing is not permanently affordable, but affordability requirements expire after 40 years (though thus far, most expired social housing has remained in non-profit and public ownership, and is still below market-rate).18 Additionally, in the 1990s, Finland got rid of its rent control laws, causing rents to spike.19
Unfortunately, in 2023, a right-wing national government has risen to power. The new administration has unveiled plans to slash the construction and financing of social housing, limit housing assistance, and increase the role of for-profit housing development.20 Yet Finland’s historical experience demonstrates the link between social housing and truly ending homelessness.
Quality Social Housing Is A Cost-Efficient Solution to Homelessness
Finland’s social housing is often high quality. Many apartments for “Housing First” beneficiaries are 1- or 2-bedroom, with amenities such as private balconies, a gym room, and a sauna.21 Yet the program is cost-efficient: a study found that providing housing for one unhoused person saves €15,000 yearly due to decreased spending on emergency healthcare and law enforcement.22 In the past ten years, Finland spent €270 million constructing, purchasing, and renovating housing as part of its “Housing First” program. This is far less than the cost of homelessness on the healthcare, law enforcement, and judicial systems – and it is actually effective in ending homelessness.23
Interviews With People Who Were Unhoused, About “Housing First”
The following stories are testimonies from beneficiaries of Finland’s “Housing First” program, excerpted from the report, “A Home of Your Own: Housing First and Ending Homelessness in Finland.”
According to residents interviewed, social housing provided them a critical safety net during economic downturns and illness. Residents reported that affordable, high-quality apartments through the “Housing First” program helped them stabilize their lives. Some live in supported housing that is publicly subsidized, and that has on-site services specifically for the formerly unhoused, while others have transitioned to long-term social housing.
(Photo courtesy of Y-Foundation)
“I could never have imagined that I would become homeless. In the summer of 2014, they started renovating the facade of the building in Espoo where I had a city rental apartment. I have asthma, so I couldn’t stay there. I decided to end the tenancy. I thought I would find a new apartment by the autumn. I lived with my friends for the summer. When I couldn’t find a flat, I was offered a temporary place through the social services office.
“Even though I had a roof over my head, I was officially homeless. That made everything feel uncertain. I felt like I was a second-class citizen, a reject. I started blaming myself and wondered if I could have done something differently. Society treats homeless people in a certain way. When they ask for your address at the bank, for example, their attitude changes once you give them a poste restante address. I think that’s unfair. Why does society stigmatise the homeless, when many of them can’t do anything about their situation?
“I was officially homeless for eight months. Then I was offered an apartment in Väinölä [a supported housing unit]. Moving to Väinölä was tough because I was used to living alone. It took months until I got used to the other people around me. When I heard their stories, I understood that many others had it worse than I did.
“I lived in Väinölä for almost a year, but I wanted to get my own place. I sent an application to the Y-Foundation [a non-profit social housing provider], and two months later I was offered an apartment. This is the best apartment I have lived in. I have two rooms with laminate flooring, and the apartment has a sauna and a glazed balcony. The apartment building is quiet and my neighbours are friendly. One of them gave me a good shoe rack since mine was shaky.
“An apartment means security – now I have a home to return to. I feel important again now that I am responsible for my own life. I am someone again, I am me. I feel that I have to take care of my own business now. I can’t wait for the tenth of May. That’s when I’ll get a permanent lease. We initially signed a one-year lease with the foundation, just to make sure that everything goes well.” – 59-year-old woman
“I lost my own apartment in 2010 because of alcohol. I initially spent a month in hospital because of health problems. From there, I was directed to a supported housing unit meant for substance abuse rehabilitees for six months. After that I lived in a unit with social services meant for the long-term homeless for four and a half years… I then moved into a halfway house for substance abuse rehabilitees.
“Now I have a 36.5-square-metre studio apartment in Väinölä. You can’t even compare it to the places I lived in before. They did not feel like home. In the housing unit with social services, you marched to a routine: you had breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and supper. In halfway houses you lived in dorms and there were curfews. What having my own apartment means to me is that I don’t have to be on my toes all the time. I have a roof over my head.
“I enjoy being in Väinölä. I don’t particularly need any help with living, but I think it’s good that staff will call or visit if a resident hasn’t been seen for three days. It doesn’t bother me that someone can enter my apartment, but I do know that it bothers some people.
“The best thing about my apartment is that it’s really quiet here. The neighbours don’t bother me. There’s enough space – one person doesn’t need any more. I’ve received a disability pension for ten years. At home I watch TV, listen to music and browse the internet. I spend a lot of time on my computer, because I do genealogy and read all kinds of things related to music.
“Every now and then in Väinölä I participate in work activity packaging reflectors, and I go to the common areas for my morning coffee and lunch. If I don’t feel like being alone in the evenings, there are always people to chat with in the common area…
“I haven’t had any alcohol for over five years and am a support person for a few friends. I hope that in the future my health will stay stable at the least, if not improve. I want to stay and live in Väinölä, I don’t have any urge to leave. Things are good as they are.” – 58-year-old man
An apartment in Väinölä, a social housing development for formerly unhoused people in Espoo, Finland. (Photographer: Vilja Pursiainen; Y-Foundation)
“I moved to Finland from the United States in 2009. Back there I had a nice apartment and a successful business. When the financial crisis hit, I knew things were going to be bad in America for a long time. My father is from Finland so I did some research and found out there was a market for my business…
“I got my business up and running and everything was going well at first. I even paid back half of the loan in advance. Then the financial crisis hit Finland and affected my business… summer came along and suddenly there was no work – in America summer was one of the busiest times and it didn’t occur to me that during summer the whole of Finland stands still. I needed the money that I had paid back to the bank.
“So the business went down and I got evicted from my apartment because of circumstances that were just out of my control. It felt like a nightmare, so surreal. I had to move my things to my employee’s house and go live in a hostel.
“My secretary at the time told me about the Y-Foundation. I got really lucky, because it only took about a month and a half to find an apartment. I suffer from back pains caused by an old injury, so I needed a place on the bottom floor and a working elevator. This place had everything. It was such a salvation out of the blue. I have been here for over three years now. The neighbourhood is incredibly sedate and I have the nicest, quiet neighbours. There is a new sauna downstairs. I just love to sit there for a long time. It helps heal the pains…
“After I left America, the rents skyrocketed. Now there are tent cities everywhere, with even veterans living there. Finns would never let that happen to their own. The only thing I miss about America is the food!
“Despite everything, I have never regretted coming to Finland. I am much happier than a couple of years ago because I don’t have to worry about ending up on the streets. My injuries are slowly healing up.
“There are many businesses that I would like start up. I make an excellent American-style pizza and I would love to start a pizza parlour. Now I am working on the business plan. Having this apartment has provided me the ability to return to normal life and start planning the future again.” – 48-year-old man
Interview With A Moderate-Income Social Housing Resident
Sonja Vesala is a resident of Finnish social housing for low- and moderate-income people, also owned by the non-profit Y-Foundation, and funded by the government. She wrote to us about her experience:
“I have been living in this M2-Kodit rental apartment for 7 years now… Here in Helsinki the prices are so high that I can’t afford to buy anything. [In social housing,] I pay 792 Euros [$857] monthly in rent for 409 square feet. That is affordable for this area, city center. The same-sized apartment just across the street costs 1,150 Euros [$1,245].
“I have been working in the insurance business for 13 years now. Currently, I am… a claim handler [regarding] patient injuries…
“I live beside a huge park, which I love, especially since I own a rescue dog… There are 61 apartments in this building and the youngest tenants are in their 20s, then some 30-year-old couples, many young families, older women and [elderly] couples. I am 41 and living alone.
“I am friends with many of my neighbors. Whenever I need something – help with my dog, someone to put paintings on the wall, car ride to supermarket, etc. – there is always someone to give me a hand. Just last week one family took me to Ikea to buy a new sofa. I don’t own a car myself. And almost every day I have someone to come for a walk with me and my dog. We have a real community here and it is so lovely. You would not believe half of the things that happen here.
“In the last month I have had some neighbor bringing me flowers, chocolate, fresh orange juice. One is currently knitting some winter hats for me. And we have a really gorgeous communal space in the building, it is called a winter garden… And free laundry room. Of course we have two saunas in the building, next to the winter garden upstairs. It costs 12 Euros [$13] monthly to have your own weekly sauna for an hour.
“Before the pandemic, we used to have a tea night in that winter garden every other week. And then we have some events together every year… I am the head of the house committee, and we organize these things. Usually, it is just something nice to eat and just spend time together. Last summer we got some cultivation boxes in our yard and that was a fun activity to do together, growing vegetables and flowers.
“I think we have a pretty good system here in Finland now… It gives many people the chance to live in the city-center with more affordable apartments.”
Communal spaces in the social housing project where Vesala lives. (Photos courtesy of Sonja Vesala)
The “winter garden.” (Photo courtesy of Sonja Vesala)
Vesala’s apartment in the social housing project. (Photo courtesy of Sonja Vesala)
This has been the case even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Y-Foundation, A Home of Your Own: Housing First and Ending Homelessness in Finland (Keuruu: Y-Foundation, 2017), 10, https://www.feantsaresearch.org/download/a_home_of_your_own_lowres_spreads6069661816957790483.pdf; Jon Henley, “‘It’s a Miracle’: Helsinki’s Radical Solution to Homelessness,” The Guardian, June 3, 2019, sec. US news, https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle-helsinkis-radical-solution-to-homelessness; Nimo Omer, “Tuesday Briefing: What Needs to Change to End Homelessness,” The Guardian, January 31, 2023, sec. World news, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/31/tuesday-briefing-what-needs-to-change-to-end-homelessness.
Julie Lawson, Hal Pawson, et al., “Social Housing as Infrastructure: An Investment Pathway,” SSRN Scholarly Paper (Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network, November 15, 2018), 50, https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3284910; Kathrin Glösel, “Finland Ends Homelessness and Provides Shelter for All in Need,” Scoop.Me (blog), November 10, 2020, https://scoop.me/housing-first-finland-homelessness/; Peter Gowan and Ryan Cooper, “Social Housing in the United States” (People’s Policy Project, 2018), https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SocialHousing.pdf.
E.g., Y-Foundation, A Home of Your Own: Housing First and Ending Homelessness in Finland, 10–12; Henley, “‘It’s a Miracle’: Helsinki’s Radical Solution to Homelessness.”
CBC News, “London Wants to Eradicate Homelessness. Here’s How Finland Is Doing It,” January 28, 2023, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-wants-to-eradicate-homelessness-here-s-how-finland-is-doing-it-1.6728398.
Lawson and Ruonavaara, “Land Policy for Affordable and Inclusive Housing: An International Review,” 33.
At below market rates. ARA fixes the price for social housing land at 60 percent of the local market rate, and charges a yearly ground rent of 4 percent of that value in Helsinki. Gowan and Cooper, “Social Housing in the United States”; Alice Pittini, Dara Turnbull, and Diana Yordanova, “Cost-Based Social Rental Housing in Europe: The Cases of Austria, Denmark, and Finland.” (Housing Europe, December 2021), 36, https://www.housingeurope.eu/file/1073/download.
Lawson and Ruonavaara, “Land Policy for Affordable and Inclusive Housing: An International Review,” 33; Pittini, Turnbull, and Yordanova, “Cost-Based Social Rental Housing in Europe: The Cases of Austria, Denmark, and Finland,” 34.
Julie Lawson and Hannu Ruonavaara, “Land Policy for Affordable and Inclusive Housing: An International Review” (SmartLand, 2020), 32 https://smartland.fi/wp-content/uploads/Land-policy-for-affordable-and-inclusive-housing-an-international-review.pdf; Helsinki City Housing Company, “Heka: Basic Information,” Helsinki City Housing Company, 2022, https://www.hekaoy.fi/en/heka/basic-information; Paul Williams, “Public Housing For All,” NOEMA, August 26, 2021, https://www.noemamag.com/public-housing-for-all.
Boston, which has a somewhat larger population than Helsinki, and has one of the largest public housing authorities in the U.S. has just 12,600 public housing units. Detroit Housing Commission, “Public Housing,” Detroit Housing Commission, 2022, https://www.dhcmi.org/PublicHousing.aspx; U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, “Housing Authority of Portland,” HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 2022, https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/ph/mtw/portland; Boston Housing Authority, “Mission and History,” Boston Housing Authority, 2022, https://www.bostonhousing.org/en/About-BHA.aspx; U.S. Census Bureau, “QuickFacts: Portland City, Oregon; Boston City, Massachusetts; Detroit City, Michigan,” 2021, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/portlandcityoregon,bostoncitymassachusetts,detroitcitymichigan/PST045221; City of Helsinki, “About the City,” welcome.helsinki, 2021, https://welcome.helsinki/about-the-city-of-helsinki/; JCrites, “Top 10 Largest Public Housing Authorities in the USA:,” Housing Futures (blog), July 1, 2018, https://housing-futures.org/2018/07/01/top-10-largest-public-housing-authorities-in-the-usa-2/.
Lawson and Ruonavaara, “Land Policy for Affordable and Inclusive Housing: An International Review,” 32–33.
Jon Henley, “‘It’s a Miracle’: Helsinki’s Radical Solution to Homelessness,” The Guardian, June 3, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle-helsinkis-radical-solution-to-homelessness.
Lawson, Pawson, et al., “Social Housing as Infrastructure,” 50; Lawson and Ruonavaara, “Land Policy for Affordable and Inclusive Housing: An International Review,” 33.
Pittini, Turnbull, and Yordanova, “Cost-Based Social Rental Housing in Europe: The Cases of Austria, Denmark, and Finland.,” 35.
Gowan and Cooper, “Social Housing in the United States.”
Lawson and Ruonavaara, “Land Policy for Affordable and Inclusive Housing: An International Review,” 33.
Mika Ronkainen and Elina Eskelä, “Helsinki’s Housing Policy: A Historical Overview and the Current Situation.” Helsinki: City of Helsinki, October 20, 2021, 28-9, https://www.hel.fi/static/kanslia/Julkaisut/2022/historical_overview_of_housing_policy.pdf; Henley, “‘It’s a Miracle.’”
Henley, “‘It’s a Miracle.’”
Alice Pittini, Dara Turnbull, and Diana Yordanova, “Cost-Based Social Rental Housing in Europe: The Cases of Austria, Denmark, and Finland,” Housing Europe, December 2021, 35-6, https://www.housingeurope.eu/file/1073/download.
E.g., see https://www.etc.se/ekonomi/sa-blev-resultatet-av-marknadshyror-i-finland.
E.g., Prime Minister’s Office, Finnish Government, “A Strong and Committed Finland: Programme of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government,” Valtioneuvosto, June 20, 2023, https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/governments/government-programme; Emma Bubola and Johanna Lemola, “Conservatives Poised to Lead Finland in Coalition with Hard Right,” The New York Times, June 16, 2023, sec. World, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/16/world/europe/finland-finns-party.html.
Y-Foundation, A Home of Your Own: Housing First and Ending Homelessness in Finland; Henley, “‘It’s a Miracle.’”
Glösel, “Finland Ends Homelessness and Provides Shelter for All in Need”; Y-Foundation, A Home of Your Own: Housing First and Ending Homelessness in Finland, 12.
As noted, with “Housing First,” Finland spends €15,000 less per homeless person. Glösel, “Finland Ends Homelessness and Provides Shelter for All in Need.”
