London wants to eradicate homelessness. Here's how Finland is doing it
CBC
A successful Finnish plan to eradicate homelessness is one London may want to consider as it works to redesign housing and health services.
This past week, participants from more than 60 community groups in London wrapped up the last of three housing summits that will lead to a new plan to help the city's nearly 1,900 unhoused. That count was done in the fall and has nearly doubled in two years.
Londoners will learn more about what was discussed when the plan is made public in late February. Meanwhile, Finland committed to eradicating homelessness several years ago, and the statistics in that country show it's working.
London Morning host Rebecca Zandbergen spoke to the Y-Foundation's Juha Kaakinen, the biggest Finnish NGO providing housing for homeless people, about the country's plan. Here's part of that conversation:
What is Finland's plan to eradicate homelessness?
Since several years, homelessness has decreased in Finland, and the current government has a plan to end homelessness completely by 2027. It means that we are producing a certain amount of affordable social housing and also providing support services for homeless people with our own housing-first model.
What is that model, because we certainly talk a lot about housing first here in London?
There are a couple of things that are important to the context. Starting in 2008, we committed to systemic change in the homelessness policy and homelessness service structures. 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.
Are there any shelters left in Finland?
We have service centres which are similar to shelters, but the number of those places is minimal. The plan is to have even fewer. You can't see tents in the cities in Finland, as there are no homeless people living in those kinds of conditions.
Where did the money come to do this?
The money has come from the state. For example, a lot of the investment in building new housing was based on low interest loans, as opposed to grants.
The thing that we have understood, which is proven in international research, is that providing housing for homeless persons is always more cost-effective for society than keeping people homeless, and that's not even the human cost of homelessness.