Project: Ending Long-term Homelessness in Helsinki

Ending Long-term Homelessness in Helsinki project is part of the national homelessness programme of the Ministry of the Environment, which aims to have a lasting impact on the number of long-term unhoused people in Finland. Besides Helsinki, eight other cities in Finland are also implementing projects under the homelessness programme. In Helsinki, the project is being implemented as a joint project between the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division and the Urban Environment Division. 

Project objectives

The project aims to end long-term homelessness in Helsinki, prevent new cases of long-term homelessness, improve the social situation, health, and social inclusion and position of those who have experienced long-term homelessness, and ensure efficient use of the available rental housing in order to achieve and maintain this objective.

The project objectives are divided among three operators and into three areas in a way that ensures cross-cutting cooperation between the operators and that the parts forming the whole complement each other: 

• In the regional adult social work and social guidance provided by the services for young people and adult social work unit, the project aims to strengthen the proactive role of regional adult social work in the prevention of evictions and homelessness. Regional adult social work will be developed to be more proactive, so that clients receive support for addressing their housing challenges at an earlier stage. This includes working closely with lessors, housing support services and other stakeholders to identify and address eviction risks before they reach a crisis point. With regard to research and education, the objective is to better identify the predictors of long-term homelessness and, through this, strengthen the competence of employees.
• The objective of the adult social work by housing support services is to comprehensively reach the clients eligible for supported housing who are long-term unhoused or who have experienced long-term homelessness. The working method used with the client group will be changed to an outreach approach involving active communication with clients. Through this, the aim is to build trust and a better working relationship with clients and the service networks that meet their needs. The research objective is to find out whether Helsinki – in the context of Housing First work, which was updated during the project – is successful in improving the social and health situation and inclusion of people who have experienced long-term homelessness.
• The housing services of the City of Helsinki’s Urban Environment Division will work together with the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division to develop an operating model that will clarify the division of tasks between the parties and better ensure the continuity of housing for residents. In the City of Helsinki’s operating model, the housing services of the Urban Environment Division act as a lessor to clients living in special needs housing, while the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division acts as a support provider for clients. The parties work together for the benefit of their mutual clients and each other in their respective fields of activity. As part of this work, the parties will develop and pilot mechanisms for sharing information about residents between different City operators in a secure manner and in compliance with data protection legislation. The project will ensure strict adherence to data protection principles and develop related practices, as necessary. The research objective is to evaluate the functionality of the process and describe the model. 

Target groups of the project

1. The target group of the efforts to prevent long-term homelessness consists of people at risk of homelessness who have underlying risk factors of long-term homelessness, such as economic deprivation, lack of language skills, poor knowledge of the functioning of society, mental health and substance abuse problems, previous evictions and unemployment. In adult social work, it is recognised that challenges in housing or maintaining a permanent residence are commonly linked to multiple risk factors, and people at risk of long-term homelessness usually need a range of services and multidisciplinary support to deal with their challenges.
2. Long-term unhoused people who are living outdoors, with acquaintances or in emergency or temporary housing, or who are about to be released from prison. This target group also includes people living in Housing First units who have experienced long-term homelessness and who need special support for making use of health and social services and improving their life situation.
3. In addition to the primary target groups of the efforts to combat long-term homelessness, the project’s target groups also include Helsinki’s health care and social welfare professionals, lessors, and Housing First service providers and organisations. The project aims to strengthen shared understanding, networking and competence on the way to ending long-term homelessness. 

Why are development measures needed?

The positive progress in reducing homelessness has halted in recent years, and there has been a slight increase in long-term homelessness in Helsinki. This indicates that the previous methods alone are no longer sufficient to tackle the current situation.

The Housing First model has established its role as a housing safety net, but housing alone is often not enough to reduce social deprivation or improve health and functional capacity. There is a need for new approaches that will link housing more closely to health and social services and community support.

Additionally, there are specific factors in Helsinki that increase the pressure for development:

• The attractiveness of the city draws in homeless people from other parts of Finland and abroad.
• High housing costs make it difficult to find affordable housing.
• In Helsinki, phenomena typical for a major city – substance abuse and mental health challenges and a high unemployment rate – increase the pressure on the service system and elevate the risk of long-term homelessness.

Service structures must be organised to better support transitions between different types of housing. The flow from temporary and heavily supported housing to more independent living must be strengthened to ensure that resources are effectively targeted at those who need them most.

Development measures are also carried out to strengthen permanent cooperation structures. Multidisciplinary cooperation between City divisions, organisations, lessors and research bodies is essential in order to permanently bring long-term homelessness under control and prevent the numbers from increasing again after the end of the project period.