In the future, all employees will be offered the opportunity to apply for an apartment through the city-owned real estate company Auroranlinna. Moving forward, leases will become regular leases, which means that tenants can continue living in the apartment even after their employment relationship has ended or they have retired.
In addition, the city will support working for the city in the future with a new advisory service focusing on housing solutions. The changes will enter into force at the beginning of 2025.
“In the future, our employees will be offered more and more versatile housing, and housing will not be limited to the duration of the employment relationship. In addition, it is great that we can support the settling of new employees in Helsinki with a new advisory service,” says Petri Lumijärvi, Human Resources Director, on the improvements brought about by the change.
Until now, the city has leased apartments from Auroranlinna to ensure that there are enough apartments available for the staff. With the change, leasing through intermediary contracts will be given up, and the sufficiency of apartments for city employees will be ensured by prioritising them in Auroranlinna’s resident choices.
“I think it’s good that the overall system and management of employee housing is becoming clearer. At the same time, we can arrange services more economically, as the costs of vacant apartments will be clearly reduced,” says Juhana Vartiainen, Mayor of Helsinki.
How will current tenants be affected by the change?
The current leases for employee housing will be converted into ordinary leases that will be valid for an indefinite period, and they will no longer be connected to the duration of the employment relationship. The transfer of leases will not result in any additional changes to rents in addition to the usual rent reviews. Current tenants will be contacted personally by letter with instructions on how to proceed.