Extensive progress in the implementation of the City of Helsinki’s City Strategy – risks arise from the rising cost level and availability of employees

Examples of successful priorities include:

The world’s best and most equitable place to learn

• Helsinki has launched a Bloomberg-Harvard development programme under the theme of children’s and young people’s safety in the urban space. 
• The City has advanced the Finland Model for leisure activities.

Ambitious climate objectives and nature conservation

• At least five conservation areas will be established this year. 

Improving the health and wellbeing of Helsinki residents

• The elderly’s possibilities to be active have been improved with, among other things, a pilot for regional co-operation in cultural care for the elderly. 

An attractive Helsinki for employees

• The salary development programme has been put into practice. 
• Preparations for an international recruitment model have been started.

A smoothly functioning and beautiful city

• The binding objective to zone 700,000 floor square metres, of which at least 280,000 must be supplementary construction, is about to be realised.
• The expansion of the city centre’s pedestrian network and strengthening of experiences are progressing according to plan. 

Responsible finances as the basis for sustainable growth

• Despite uncertainties, the accumulated total amount of wages and salaries, which is an indicator of economic activity, and revenues from corporate tax are on a substantially higher level in Helsinki compared to the year before.

International workers and businesses find Helsinki appealing

• The number of unemployed jobseekers in the City’s local government pilot on employment has continued to decrease. 
• Helsinki was elected as the 2022 Finnish Travel Destination. 

Data and digitalisation help run a smart city

• The renewal of the City’s hel.fi website has taken significant steps forward. The website will be renewed in phases. 

Examples of priorities with challenges include:

An attractive Helsinki for employees

• The lack of employees continues to be a problem. For example, we have had to move playground personnel to day care centres. 

A smoothly functioning and beautiful city

• The housing production objective of 7,000 initiated housing units will not be met. The City’s own housing production will be significantly lower than the objective. The predicted number of initiated housing projects is 585 with the objective being 1,548. 

Ambitious climate objectives and nature conservation

• Without some additional measures, the emission target for traffic will not be met.

Responsible finances as the basis for sustainable growth

• The rising cost level has a major impact on the City’s operations and makes it more difficult to make financial plans and, among other things, realise investment initiatives. 

Data and digitalisation help run a smart city

• The City’s salary payments continue to have errors. The effective measures to solve the salary payment situation have been organised as a stabilising initiative. 

International workers and businesses find Helsinki appealing

• The number of people who have been unemployed for more than two years continues to rise. 
• The number of international overnight stays is still approximately 40 per cent lower than before the pandemic in 2019.

Risks impacting the implementation of the City Strategy include, among other things, changes in the international safety environment, rising costs, sufficiency of services as the crisis situations continue, the price of electricity and lack of employees.

The strategy is monitored regularly and transparently

The implementation of the City Strategy is continuously monitored as part of the annual financial and operations monitoring. Next summer, at the midpoint of the City Council’s term, the strategy’s progress will be reported to the City Council.

The implementation of the City Strategy is monitored transparently and publicly on the City’s website. You can find the City Strategy here.