FINLAND - How to Eliminate Homelessness
Whereas the number of homeless people has been skyrocketing in Europe in recent years, Finland is the only European Union member state to have almost completely eliminated the problem. Only around 3,600 people in Finland are currently without a roof over their head, and the country is aiming to make long-term homelessness a thing of the past by 2027.
But how have the Finns managed to do it? And how does a society change when almost nobody has to live on the street any longer?
Harri Ollinen has a fair amount to say about it. A social worker, Ollinen is head of the residential area on the northeastern outskirts of Helsinki where Vehi Hinkka lives. The estate is made up of 70 small apartments, previously home to university students, where formerly homeless people now live. There is a community hall and a sauna, but they come with clear rules: No violence, and no drugs or alcohol in community spaces.
Housing First is the name of the concept Finland is experimenting with—entrusting an apartment to people who, in many other cities, wouldn’t even get a place to sleep in an emergency shelter.
“By giving people a home, we are creating structures,” says social worker Harri Ollinen. “Once that is in place, we can talk about everything else.”
The residents of the housing estate have recently even been assigned an empathy consultant. She is the first of her kind in the entire world, says Enni-Kukka Tuomala. “Those living on the streets can’t afford to have feelings,” she says. “When you’re homeless,” says one of the men, “you don’t even tell your friends where you are sleeping.”
The program is also beneficial from an economic point of view, says Juha Kahila, of the foundation behind the Housing First program. Since the beginning of the program, Housing First has found an apartment for 60 percent of Finland’s homeless population. Since 2012, the state has calculated that it has saved almost 32 million euros annually as a result, with most of that savings coming in the healthcare sector.
Whereas in many other European countries, more and more people are living on the streets, in Finland, they are actively searching for them. Elisabet Erkkilä leads a team at Helsinki City Hall tasked with finding those who are still without a roof over their heads and providing them with support. Like most of those interviewed for this story, she, too, is a former social worker.
Her team has shrunk over the years, which is a product of its success. “At the same time, it must be said that there is still hidden homelessness. In Helsinki, there are very few people living on the streets, but many hide at friends’ places or frequently change shelters. Some conceal for years the fact that they don’t have a place to live.”
-www.spiegel.de, 12 February 2024
Arno's Commentary
Whenever quality of life, longevity, or contentment is globally tabulated, the Scandinavian countries are mostly on top. For 2024, Forbes researched the happiest countries in the world and listed Finland first, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Australia. Socially structured governments make it a primary goal to lower homelessness. Finland, according to Wikipedia, counts 7.9 persons per 10,000 as homeless, the USA 18, and Israel 4.
When it comes to happiness research, it is quite surprising that Israel is listed in fifth place. That seems all but impossible, since the country is threatened from within and without by terrorism, even by sovereign countries like Lebanon, Syria, and lately, Iran. Yet Israel is quite content and at peace as far as the population is concerned. We can’t help but quote Psalm 23:5: “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
We also notice that religiously, Finland is 66.6% Lutheran, with a rather large percentage of 33.6% uncommitted, which often is a proxy to establish the number of deists and atheists. Cuba, for example, lists 23.2% of its population as uncommitted, with 58.9% Christian.
One of the reasons for Finland’s low homelessness and high life expectancy is effective healthcare. For every 1,000 inhabitants, Finland has 4.6 physicians and 3.6 hospital beds; by comparison, the US has 2.6 physicians and 2.9 beds.
Finland has one of the lowest infant mortality rates at 2.2 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared to the US’s 5.1.
Housing First is definitely a success in Finland, and is now being copied by several other nations globally.
For believers, we must take note of what Scripture says. In the KJV translation, the word “rich” appears 40 times in the New Testament, while the word “poor” appears 35 times. In an overwhelming number of cases, the rich are scolded, and in virtually all cases, the poor are
comforted. While we may rightly say there is nothing wrong with being rich, it is a sin to reject, oppress, or deny the poor. James, the half-brother of Jesus, had this to say about the rich: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you … Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth” (James 5:1, 4).
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
