In spite of government efforts, rates of homelessness in Finland continue to decline slowly. Towards the end of last year, the number of single persons without a permanent place of residence was 7,300 down by 100 from the previous year. Destitute families held firm at 300 - the same as in the year before.
The information was gathered from market research conducted by the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland.
More than half of all homeless persons live in the Helsinki area. Following close on the heels of the capital ate other big cities in Finland: Tampere, Turku, Lahti, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Joensuu and Oulu. Some of these large cities have managed to reduce the numbers of street dwellers. Thast has not been the case in Helsinkio, Espoo, Jyväskylä and Oulu, where their numbers have increased compared to the previous year.
The government's aim is to halve the number of long-term homeless by the year 2011.