Finland's Ovi

Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa have found nearly 50 buildings which could serve as accommodation for the long-term homeless.

If all of the plans are carried out, more than 2,000 new “support apartments” and treatment spots could be set up for the homeless in the Helsinki region.

The aim is to set up at least 1,000 of them by 2011.

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FEANTSA (European Federation of National Organisations ) says that a obvious cause of the high housing costs is that housing production and housing policy are basically dependent on the market. The share of social rental housing is small, only some 15 per cent of the housing stock. Contrary to many other sectors of the welfare society, housing provision mainly relies on the free market. Single persons in particular encounter difficulties in finding reasonably priced rental dwellings.

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Nearly 30 possible locations were found in Helsinki with more than 1,600 apartments or treatment spaces.

This spring, authorities will pick which of the locations are to be developed further.
Finland has thousands of people without a fixed abode. Of them, 2,500 live in the Helsinki region.

The effort among the cities in the Greater Helsinki region to find special housing is part of a programme launched by Minister of Housing Jan Vapaavuori (Nat. Coalition Party) to reduce long-term homelessness.

Cutting the homelessness rate in half by 2011 would require 1,250 units of support housing and treatment, at an estimated costs of more than EUR 200 million.

The state plans to spend a lot of money on the project in the next four years, and the cities are expected to pay an equal amount.

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Article on Environment.fi says that a separate programme designed to reduce homelessness in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area was finalised in 2002 for the period 2002-2005, involving the construction and acquisition of four thousand homes a year and measures to ensure the provision of the necessary housing services and support.

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Tarja Halonen, the Finnish president, said in a statement Friday she had sent a message of congratulation to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for their being jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize.

The president said she was very pleased that the pioneering work had been recognised at such high a level.

“Well-being for mankind and nature go hand in hand. Sustainable development on a global scale can become a reality if we take true care of people and if we have a strong environmental awareness. There are positive signs of attitudes changing and of a stronger common will to act on climate issues”, President Halonen wrote to Mr Gore and Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the IPCC.

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (centre) said the Nobel committee had made a good choice.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish prime minister, joined Mr Vanhanen in praising the award for pushing climate issues higher on the political agenda.

Source:STT