Homeless: the “Finnish miracle”

The solidarity night will take place on the evening of Thursday 20 January. An opportunity to identify the homeless in France. They were nearly 300,000 in 2020 according to the Abbé Pierre foundation, twice as many as ten years ago. A European country has succeeded in reversing the trend.

In Finland, the number of homeless people has been divided by three in twelve years. To achieve this, the country first found or rather built a roof for the homeless. Instead of leaving them outside or providing them with overnight accommodation, the state has built and renovated more than 30,000 homes since 2008. For Finns, the only way to help them reintegrate is to offer them a real lodging.

Example, 20 km from Helsinki where we met a French expatriate in Finland. He lost his job and his home eight years ago. “It’s a fully equipped apartment with a living room and a bedroom, he says, showing us around his apartment. In the residence, there is a sauna and we have a lake. Everyone in this building has a balcony.”

In this residence everyone pays according to their means. A really very pleasant place which therefore aims to give a second chance to the homeless. “If I hadn’t been in Finland when I started having all my problems, I probably would have died”, says a man. The “problems” he talks about started in 2013 after a separation. He fell into depression, alcohol and drugs. He explains to us that he slept on the streets, sometimes in very difficult conditions – in Finland, it can be -20°C in winter – until the day when the social services found him this accommodation.

“I vividly remember the day I arrived here, it will be in my heart forever, it was December 1, 2015.”

“After two or three years of living with people who had the same problems as me, having this opportunity to come to my own apartment, to be sure that no one is going to get me out of here and that I can find help there. , allowed me to realize that I was important for those who reached out to me so that I had to be as important for me”, explains the former homeless man. Seven years after his arrival, he no longer drinks, has several diplomas and has even found a small job.

A success, but if this formula works it is not only thanks to housing. The apartment is the base, it is what gives the impetus. Then there is a whole accompaniment. In this residence, for example, there are social workers like Tuija Laakso from the Salvation Army. She is there to help all these people on a social or psychological level. “I couldn’t do this job if I didn’t see how all these people in these residences evolve and overcome their problems”, says the social worker.

“In this residence, they take charge and build their dreams thanks to our help and this accommodation.”

Tuija Laakso, Salvation Army

at franceinfo

This Finn reports “that in the country the apartments are very expensive and therefore it is really difficult for them to leave the residence. But that’s why I do this job. I can’t imagine anything more rewarding than see these people who were on the street move forward and get out of here.” A heartfelt speech from Tuija Laakso. His wish – which is also that of Finnish politicians – is not to accept fate. The result is clear: in 2008, there were 18 000 homeless, they are less than 5 000 now.

A policy that has a price and costs the Finnish state around 30 million euros per year. But what is amazing is that this formula makes money. Because, during that time, Finland notably reduced its medico-social expenditure. Peter Fredrikssen is the “homeless gentleman” in Finland. A former adviser to the Minister of the Environment, he has been working on this issue for 30 years. “We studied the profile of the homeless and found, for example, that their average consumption of hospital services was six times higher than the average, explains Peter Fredrikssen. So we calculated what this project could bring us, to take out a person who was on the street and put them in this type of residence, which saves us 15,000 euros per year and per person. So it’s a very smart investment.”

Admittedly, Finland has twelve times fewer inhabitants than France. To do the same thing in France, hundreds of thousands of homes would have to be built. It seems impossible. In any case, in this field, we will have learned that impossible is not Finnish!