Finland Wants To End Homelessness By 2027. Here’s How They’re Doing It

The country’s solution is surprisingly simple and saves them money.

Since the day you were born, homelessness has existed in some shape or form. For many people, it’s just a sad feature of modern life that will always be around. However, Finland is close to destroying this notion, and all of the assumptions that surround it.

In 1987, Finland had 18,000 homeless people. By 2022, this figure was staggeringly cut down to 3,686, decreasing homelessness by 75% in 30 years¹. This is an amazing achievement on its own, but Finland hopes to end long-term homelessness for good by 2027².

So, how are they doing it?

The Housing First Model

Finland’s solution is almost too obvious. If you don’t want somebody to be homeless, then you should just give them a home. So, Finland simply gave homeless people homes with no strings attached.

However, the problem with homelessness is that it is not simply a lack of a home that is the only issue. Homelessness often arises from drug addiction, from mental health issues, and from medical conditions. Domestic abuse is another one that often gets overlooked. No homeless person is the same.

So, on top of the new house, these newly homed people are given support services, with the aims of rehabilitating them from whatever mental or physical illness they have, or helping them overcome their drug addiction.

You might be thinking: well, that’s all well and good, but who’s going to pay for it? The fact is that every taxpayer already pays for services helping the homeless, and this is arguably a better way of dealing with it.

The Economic Argument

Living without a home has plenty of knock-on effects. It causes health problems, and you’re much more likely to be involved in criminal activity (illegally taking drugs, resorting to theft, living on the streets, etc).

So homeless people are already costing the taxpayer through healthcare services and police services, as well as homeless shelters and hostels. Finland’s thinking is that once someone has a home, they will be more likely to cope with the other issues they are facing.

In 2015, a study that looked at Canadian cities that adopted housing first saw no change in expenditure³. It’s claimed that the money spent on housing was canceled out by the decreased money spent on healthcare.

In 2017, LA County saved about 20 percent by putting people with complex mental health issues in supportive housing instead of relying on law enforcement and emergency room visits³.

In 2019, a Central Florida Commission on Homelessness study found that the region spent three times as much on policing homeless people’s nonviolent rule-breaking than it would cost to get each homeless person a house and a caseworker³.

Also that year, Finland revealed that the country saves €15,000 a year through their housing first policy, and costs less than the extra funding in emergency healthcare, social services, and criminal justice⁴.

The ideal outcome is that this newly homed person gets a job and becomes a regular taxpayer. So, you could replace someone costing the taxpayer, to someone paying taxes.

The Moral Argument

Some people think that it’s their own fault that people are homeless. The sad fact of the matter is that people are forced into homelessness, often when they even have a job.

There’s a certain phenomenon known as the ‘working homeless.’ These people work but can’t afford housing. The National Coalition for the Homeless in the UK estimates as many as 40%-60% of people experiencing homelessness nationwide are employed⁵.

Other issues can force people into homelessness such as the cost of healthcare, or a family emergency. As for drug and alcohol addiction, there is an abundance of medical information supporting the idea that addiction is a disease or brain disorder, rather than a personal failing of their own.

According to the Mayo Clinic, addiction is:

“ A disease that affects a person’s brain and behavior and leads to an inability to control the use of a legal or illegal drug or medicine⁶.”

But even if someone is personally responsible for being homeless, should they be subject to living out in the streets, and stuck in the vicious cycle of homelessness forever?

Why Is My City Not Doing This?

Finland and other Nordic countries have always invested heavily in the welfare state and making sure every citizen is looked after. So, it is much easier for them to offer social housing than countries that have not consistently had governments of this particular mold.

Finland’s capital of Helsinki owns 70% of the land in the city, including over 60,000 social housing units⁴. Offering a home is a lot easier in Finland than countries with shortages in housing.

I live in Ireland where housing is often left to the free market. Social housing obviously exists, but hasn’t been a priority like in Finland, and successive Irish governments have been more reliant on the private sector to build and rent houses.

Ireland, as a consequence, is experiencing a housing crisis and record levels of homelessness⁷, with a rate four times higher than Finland’s, despite having roughly the same population size.

The sad reality is that the Housing First model relies on a long-term vision of providing social housing, and this might not be the top priority of the electorate, nor the ideology of every government that comes into power.

We are given the impression that homelessness is just a societal problem that will always be around. Hopefully, the Finns can change this defeatist way of thinking.

Sources

1. https://globalnews.ca/news/10198145/quebec-finland-successful-approach-homelessness-model/#:
2. https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/a-paradigm-shift-in-social-policy-how-finland-conquered-homelessness-a-ba1a531e-8129-4c71-94fc-7268c5b109d9
3. https://www.vox.com/2014/5/30/5764096/homeless-shelter-housing-help-solutions
4. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle-helsinkis-radical-solution-to-homelessness
5. https://www.councilforthehomeless.org/myths-facts-about-homelessness/#
6. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/drug-addiction/symptoms-causes/syc-20365112
7. https://theconversation.com/how-the-private-rental-sector-created-a-homelessness-crisis-in-ireland-and-england-201734