Homelessness reduced with long-term cooperation

Finland is the only country in the European Union where the number of homeless people has declined in recent years. Systematic and goal-oriented efforts have been made for over 15 years to eradicate homelessness. The results have been good: the number of homeless people decreased even during the challenging pandemic conditions, and effective ways to help have been found. The work continues, however, as 3,400 individuals are still without a home.

Long-term and systematic cooperation is needed to address homelessness. In Finland this has been done by applying the Housing First model, which brings together actions by cities and wellbeing services counties, NGOs and central government to reduce homelessness. Since 2008 several cooperation programmes focused on combatting homelessness have been implemented in Finland that have been based on cooperation between various actors and the Housing First model. 

Programme to eradicate long-term homelessness

In the current Government Programme a key focus is on eradicating long-term homelessness. According to the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland Ara, in 2023 the number of people classified as long-term homeless individuals in Finland was more than 1,000.
The Ministry of the Environment has introduced a programme to eradicate long-term homelessness. The aim is to end long-term homelessness by 2027. The programme group is chaired by Deputy Mayor of Helsinki Daniel Sazonov. The participants are the wellbeing services counties and the largest cities of Finland. 

A research report commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment examines the development of homelessness and ways to eradicate it. The study was conducted between 5 October 2022 and 30 January 2023. 

Cooperation Programme to Halve Homelessness 2020–2022

The Cooperation Programme to Halve Homelessness was implemented in 2020–2022 under the lead of the Ministry of the Environment. The programme is implemented together with the largest urban districts, service providers and NGOs.

  • The key objective is to strengthen the homelessness work of local authorities
  • through the use and development of social services by allocating more affordable housing for people at risk of homelessness.
  • Municipalities set up cooperation networks at local level.
  • Homelessness work will be established as part of the core activities of municipalities.

Read more about the programme:

Housing advice

The risk of homelessness is more and more often linked to financial problems, and advice on housing is an effective way to prevent people from losing their home because of these. Besides the construction and procurement of housing, today we are more often concerned with finding means for people to retain their homes. Housing advice has been subsidised since 2009 and it has been further developed in numerous projects, where it has been found to be an effective means to prevent homelessness.

The Government has adopted a temporary act on housing advice for 2023–2027. The impact of the grants and development of housing advice will be followed on the basis of the experiences gained and the effectiveness of the act will be evaluated towards the end of the period.

European cooperation

In 2021, the European institutions, EU governments and civil society launched the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness to facilitate dialogue and mutual learning and to strengthen cooperation among all actors that aim to combat homelessness. 

The Housing First Europe Hub was established in 2016 with the aim to further develop and promote Housing First in Europe. The Hub is composed of organisations, cities, government ministries, housing providers and researchers from 15 different countries. 

More information

Hanna Kettunen, Senior Specialist 
Ministry of the Environment, Department of the Built Environment, Housing and Cultural Environments Telephone:0295250010   Email Address:

Matleena Haapala, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Legislative Affairs 
Ministry of the Environment, Department of the Built Environment, Housing and Cultural Environments Telephone:0295250332   Email Address: