“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply.
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@nekonekosanna Is the general concensus still positive about the economic advantages of the policy? I read an article several months ago suggesting that expenses were outpacing funding, but don't recall if that was from reducing funding, increased demand, or a combination.
@wiggly @nekonekosanna Austerity, mainly, cutting benefits while rents are rising. Cruelty is the policy.
"According to the ARA report, rising rents, cuts to social benefits, and reductions in funding for housing advice services are key drivers behind the increase in homelessness."
Homelessness rises in Finland for first time in over a decade
The number of homeless people in Finland has increased for the first time in 11 years, according to new data from ARA, the Finnish Housing Finance and Development Centre. The report shows that 3,806 people were experiencing homelessness in 2024, an increase of 377 compared to the previous year. The rise comes after more than a decade of steady declines and raises concerns about the country’s long-standing success in tackling homelessness.
Helsinki Times (www.helsinkitimes.fi)
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/@BrentToderian What is it like five years on?
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/@BrentToderian This is absolutely true.
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@wiggly @nekonekosanna Austerity, mainly, cutting benefits while rents are rising. Cruelty is the policy.
"According to the ARA report, rising rents, cuts to social benefits, and reductions in funding for housing advice services are key drivers behind the increase in homelessness."
Homelessness rises in Finland for first time in over a decade
The number of homeless people in Finland has increased for the first time in 11 years, according to new data from ARA, the Finnish Housing Finance and Development Centre. The report shows that 3,806 people were experiencing homelessness in 2024, an increase of 377 compared to the previous year. The rise comes after more than a decade of steady declines and raises concerns about the country’s long-standing success in tackling homelessness.
Helsinki Times (www.helsinkitimes.fi)
@undefined_variable @wiggly @nekonekosanna
Funny ( = ironic) -- that's the same reason it's rising in the Divided States. We have a few more, though. One is the lack of a living minimum wage.
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/@BrentToderian It doesn't just save money, it can make money further down the line. Long term homelessness can be a drain on society, long term employment, even if you build them a house first, pays for itself and then some.
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@BrentToderian What is it like five years on?
@Tooden @BrentToderian The Housing First system was implemented before 2020. 2020 is just when news items made it to other countries.
As to how it's going now: it was going really great actually, up until 2 years ago when we got a right wing bourgeoisie government that has steadily been gutting all services and aids and transferring wealth and giving tax cuts to corporations: https://mastodon.social/@nekonekosanna/115844748222324697
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/@BrentToderian
- But.. But... !!!
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/@BrentToderian I learned this at US housing and urban development conference in 2013
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/@BrentToderian even if you let them starve you get less money out then when they start paying taxes and consume.
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/@BrentToderian
Unfortunately that article is from 2020 and it's telling you a fairytale of a future that never came to be thanks mostly to our borderline faschist govt here in
.On the contrary, homelessness is on the rise and now it's not just people with substance abuse issues or otherwise in dire straits, but also working people with stable income who just can't afford a roof over their heads [1].
[1] https://yle.fi/a/74-20102348 (in Finnish)
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@undefined_variable @wiggly @nekonekosanna
Funny ( = ironic) -- that's the same reason it's rising in the Divided States. We have a few more, though. One is the lack of a living minimum wage.
@Oma_Trisha_F @wiggly @nekonekosanna We don't have any legal minimum wage here! The only minimum wages mandated are in the general bargaining agreements with the unions, so of course they're now killing the unions and eroding union membership. So there's been a lot of abuse on that front, unemployed forced into "work experience programs" for 9 Euros a day, abusing seasonal foreign workers, and all that jazz.
Also, the EU has several times warned Finland that the level of social benefits is too low, and now child poverty has exploded here. So yeah...
European Committee of Social Rights has again decided on the low level of social security in Finland
The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) stated in its decision published on 15 February 2023 that the level of Finland's social security is still too low. The complaint filed in 2018 targeted…
Human Rights Centre (www.humanrightscentre.fi)
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/@BrentToderian I know a number of homeless people with heroin addictions who just need somewhere safe. We can deal with the addiction once they're housed
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/@BrentToderian and it is, dare I say it for those it matters to, quite a christian thing to do, don’t you know?
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@BrentToderian As a Finn I hate to tell this.. but actually the number of homeless people has been rising in many cities, thanks to far-right government. Unemployment rate has skyrocketed as well: https://yle.fi/a/74-20201314 .
I wondered if this was the case.
I'm not Finnish but it seemed to me things were better when Sanna Marin ran Finland.
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/@BrentToderian The privilege to celebrate membership of an privileged group is an essential element of fashistoid thinking but rarely claimed openly, because it is so embarrassing.
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/@BrentToderian way too many people in control just have a bug up their ass about the perception anyone, anywhere is getting something "free," so they impose punishment as a "price." Some probably think the homeless should just die and evaporate.
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/Brent Toderian fuck yeah
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Brent Toderian fuck yeah
@zaire@fedi.absturztau.be @BrentToderian@mastodon.online finally, something good
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“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back to a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
IT SAVES PUBLIC MONEY to house people.
https://thebetter.news/housing-first-finland-homelessness/@BrentToderian I was never out on the street homeless, but very shitty luck early in life left me with no safety net, no education and no job. In a lot of other places I could've ended up as a junkie, thief, selling my body or other outcomes. Instead I'm a sr. software developer 28 or so years later.
Be that people do shit on the social welfare, it helped me in a spot where no one else did. Not only I got on my feet, I got the ball rolling for making it not just enough to survive daily, but to improve on it.
Years later I travelled the world and was shocked something like this wasn't universal. I even got a lot of arguments against it, often with talking points that just felt like they were guesses or regurgitated propaganda rather than facts. I believe what I personally went through and believe others can turn their lives around too.
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