The answer to homelessness

Finnish social housing (Source)

From The New Daily:

Finland has the distinction of being the only European country where homelessness has decreased in recent years, and the rest of the world is starting to take notice.

Between 2008 and 2016, long-term homelessness in Finland was slashed by a staggering 35 per cent.

By contrast, homelessness in Australia rose 13.7 per cent over the five years to 2016, according to census data.

A decade ago, Finland decided to tackle chronic homelessness by providing permanent housing — individual apartments rather than temporary shelter accommodation — to rough sleepers and others in the grip of long-term homelessness. It’s success has been remarkable.

The model is known as Housing First.

One of Finland’s biggest advocates of Housing First is Juha Kaakinen, CEO of Y-Foundation, a social housing organisation which has provided more than 6000 homes to former rough sleepers, and 10,000 homes to low-income families and individuals.

“Housing is the foundation for solving other issues. That was the change in thinking,” Mr Kaakinen said.

“You don’t need to be ‘housing ready’, it’s not a reward after you’ve solved your issues. It’s the basis for solving them.”

The program has been both a social and economic success.

Providing a homeless person with permanent housing in a supported housing unit saves the government approximately €15,000 ($23,400) per person per year, according to an evaluation of the program by the Technical University of Tampere, with savings mainly coming from reduced use of health services and institutional care.