Homelessness increased in Tampere in 2024 – a joint project between the city and the wellbeing services county to eliminate long-term homelessness to be launched

Homelessness was expected to start growing according to Elina Pekkarinen, Development Coordinator at the City of Tampere, and Elina Perkiö, Developer Social Worker at the Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa. They say that the lack of affordable housing makes life more difficult, especially for the most vulnerable. 

- Even though affordable housing was built in Tampere last year in accordance with the housing and land policies, there is still not enough housing below the maximum housing costs taken into account in Kela’s social assistance, considering the number of applicants. This affects especially those living alone and families with children, Pekkarinen and Perkiö explain.

The City of Tampere has prepared an estimate of the situation in 2024 and the number of homeless people as part of the annual homelessness survey conducted by the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (Ara). The number of homeless people will be examined in cooperation with the Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa, as the aim is to identify all actually homeless Tampere residents as comprehensibly as possible.

The homelessness situation is examined nation-wide based on a cross-section on a certain day. Information on homeless people is collected from several different sources, such as the Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa, rental housing communities, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, organisations and housing services units.

Over 1,800 affordable dwellings under construction

In Tampere, long-term work on homelessness has been carried out for years with the help of national action plans aimed at eliminating homelessness. The action plans have resulted in a shift from temporary forms of housing to permanent forms of housing, and forms of work to prevent homelessness have been launched. 

- At the moment, more than 1,800 affordable dwellings are under construction in Tampere. The number is record high. The Finnish Government decided to accelerate state-subsidised housing construction in a difficult housing market situation, and Ara was given more power to grant interest subsidy loans for 2024, says Housing and Development Manager Auli Heinävä.

According to her, it is difficult to maintain an affordable lease price level because of the costly housing construction of recent years. In Tampere, rental housing is produced not only by rental housing operators who are part of the city group but also by numerous other non-profit developers.

The need for housing advisory services has increased

-The population of Tampere has increased considerably in recent years, and it has increased the need for different services, such as social welfare and psychiatric services. For example, drug use has become more common and increased the risk of homelessness, says Developer Social Worker Elina Perkiö.

According to her, the waiting time for social welfare services, among other services, has increased due to the increased demand but an effort has always been made to tackle sudden crises related to housing.

The personnel resources of the City of Tampere housing advisory services have been increased; there are now four advisors, and a new one will soon be recruited. Around one in five of their clients is homeless. With those affected by homelessness, the focus is on supporting their situation to prevent it from becoming more difficult and to make it possible for them to find a home. 

- As its name suggests, housing advisory services means giving advice. The client always decides what they want help with. If necessary, advice can also be provided anonymously, says Elina Pekkarinen, Development Coordinator at the City of Tampere.

The City’s Resident First housing advisory project organises low-threshold housing advisory services for all residents.

- We support clients in independent housing arrangements by standing by their side and by providing as concrete assistance as possible, for example with housing problems or in finding a new apartment, says Pekkarinen.

More coordinated social welfare and health care services for homeless people

-We will address the deteriorated homelessness situation in the Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa by developing and increasing coordinated social welfare and health care services for those at risk of homelessness, says Developer Social Worker Elina Perkiö. 

In 2025, housing advisory services for working-aged people will be improved to respond to growing housing crises. Social services divisions will increase their own housing services production both in housing units and in services delivered at home, thus contributing to the permanence of housing. 

- Coordination of mental health and substance abuse services and social services is one of the key objectives of reducing homelessness this year. The aim is to meet the service needs of the most vulnerable homeless people and to prevent the need for heavy services, says Perkiö.

A joint project to improve work on homelessness

The Ministry of the Environment has invited the City of Tampere and the Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa to participate in a national programme to eliminate long-term homelessness. The My Home project will be launched to support the implementation of the programme. The aim is to strengthen the cooperation structures between the City and the Wellbeing Services County in work on homelessness.

The My Home project focuses especially on streamlining access to services for people experiencing homelessness through housing advice and mobile work on homelessness. The aim is to develop cooperation in the transition points of housing to arrange support for those experiencing problems with housing more seamlessly. At the same time, the possibilities of introducing an interim rental model for arranging housing for those with the most problems with finding housing will also be investigated.