Matti Vanhanen, a former Prime Minister and Centre Party leader who returned to Parliament in April’s election, wants to make it easier for people to live part of the year at their summer cottages.
In practice that happens anyway, as retired people extend their summer vacations, but his idea is that people officially register their residence in two municipalities. There are some half a million summer cottages in Finland.
"If we can be dual nationals, then it’s strange that we cannot also be residents of two municipalities," said Vanhanen.
He believes there are increasing numbers of older people in relatively good shape who would like to live in their summer cottages for part of the year.
"I think this should be dealt with according to people’s own wishes," said Vanhanen. "Now there are surprisingly many administrative obstacles."
In practice those obstacles amount to restrictions on zoning and construction, which municipalities enforce strictly. Loosening those restrictions might give some space for cottage owners to spend more time at their second homes, but full registration in two municipalities is some way off.
Vanhanen says however that forthcoming reforms to health and social care, which will remove some duties from municipalities, could help hasten dual-municipality residency. Sharing municipal tax revenues is, however, a thorny issue, and Finland’s municipalities have been opposed to dual-residency.