In 2008 Finland made a significant change to their homeless policy, making it the only country in Europe where the number of homeless people has declined.
They achieved this by shutting down emergency shelters and temporary housing and instead began renovating these dwellings into apartments.
This was on top of permanent social housing they were building throughout the country under their Housing First programme.
It wasn’t an overnight success, it was a model Finland had been working on since the 1980s with charities, NGOs and volunteers.
It was the launch of a fully funded national programme a decade ago which saw the tide turn on homelessness.
“For us it means it’s always permanent housing that’s supposed to be proved for homeless persons – always permanent instead of temporary solutions,” Finland’s Housing First CEO Juha Kaakinen told 1 NEWS.
Mr Kaakinen says emergency shelters and hostels were failing to keep up with demand and were becoming an “obstacle” to solving homelessness.
“Well it’s obvious that when you are on the street or you are living in temporary accommodation to take care of things like employment issues, health and social issues it’s almost impossible,” he says.
“But a permanent home gives you a safe place where you don’t have to be afraid about what’s going to happen tomorrow, and you know if you can take care of the rent.”
In 2008, Helsinki alone had 500 bed places in emergency shelters, now 10 years later there is only one shelter with 52 beds.
Finland’s Housing First social housing stock for those who are on low incomes or in need of urgent housing makes up 13 per cent of their total housing stock.
Under their housing policy, every new housing area must be 20 per cent social housing.
“It’s quite a simple thing in a way, it makes common sense that you have to have a home like everyone else.”
The Ministry of Social Development says right now we can’t build permanent housing quick enough.
Not only is permanent housing supplied to those who can’t afford a roof over their head but wrap around support such as financial and debt counselling.
The number of homeless in Finland has dropped from 18,000 to 6500 people with 80 per cent living with friends and relatives while they wait for a home.
This means there is practically no street or rough sleepers in Finland, which has a total population of 5.4 million people.
The Housing First programme in New Zealand is funded by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) across many regions including Auckland.
However, this programme is just one of a myriad of programmes that include charities and community groups.
MSD’s Deputy Chief Executive for Housing Scott Gallacher acknowledges that more housing needs to be built to address the current crisis here.
“Our optimal outcome is to have far more supply of public housing, so people can have long-term stability. The stark reality is the context in which we find ourselves in that we just cannot bring on the degree of supply of long-term housing in the time required.
“The scale of what we’ve got of transitional housing at the moment will probably reduce over time and once we have a far stronger supply of long-term homes for people that is really the optimal outcome that we’re all trying to achieve,” says Mr Gallacher told 1 NEWS.
MSD also acknowledges it needs to provide greater support for those who are homeless to end chronic homelessness.
“It’s not just about the bricks and mortar, it’s not just about the house, it’s about what sort of support are we providing families and individuals to stabilise their lives and actually be able to sustain long-term homes.”
Mr Kaakinen says there is no other way around ending homelessness but to have government involvement.
Read more from Ryan Boswell's Homeless in New Zealand series here: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
SHARE ME