Helsingin Sanomat interviewed a number of experts for its three-page feature who say that a lack of affordable rental housing in the capital region, combined with the thousands of new resident permit holders expected to move to the capital over the next few years, is creating a worrying situation.
Increasingly, refugees seeking housing are being targeted by unscrupulous estate agents who overcharge, demand illegal finder's fees and rent out substandard accommodations. In some cases, refugees have paid out significant sums to rent flats that don't even exist.
Organized crime does not seem to be involved, rather according to the experts, most of the fraud is being perpetrated by private individuals.
Helsinki police inspector Reijo Enqvist told Helsingin Sanomat that few of these cases are reported, although there are some investigations underway.
An opinion piece by the newspaper's Lari Malberg, published along with the feature, places the blame for this growing problem on failed public housing policies in the capital region.
Public funds for criminals
Turun Sanomat, the main daily in the southwestern coastal city of Turku, reports that the activities of some organized crime groups have benefited from public funding. Some organized crime groups have been using front companies to tap into public grants and, for example, to get publically-subsidized facilities.
Because of privacy laws, decision-makers are often unaware of who is actually behind these front companies and of their links to organized crime.
At the same time as it is a criminal offense to provide aid to organized crime, the public sector, in some cases, has unknowingly been doing just that.
The national Police Administration, writes Turun Sanomat, is now calling for broader powers to pass on information about organized crime groups and those involved to other public officials.
What worries?
The Tampere-based Aamulehti looks at a poll by Alma Media examining the political landscape on the municipal level throughout the country.
In addition to gauging the level of support for the various political parties, pollsters also mapped out the issues of major concern on the local level in Finland.
While there is a good deal of variation based on factors such as age, income and political views, the top three concerns were found to be future access to full public healthcare services, unemployment, and care for the elderly.
The widest variation among different political groups was on the issue of immigration. While overall, 20% of those polled said that the impact of immigration in their municipalities is a major concern, 54% of Finns Party supporters ranked it high on their list, while only 5% of voters who back the Greens mentioned it.
Unemployment was found to be a bigger worry in eastern and northern regions that it is in the rest of the country. The future of care for the elderly is also a major concern across the political spectrum.
Is that a good grade?
The newsstand tabloid_Ilta-Sanomat_ writes that many of Finland's schools are giving up their tradition grading system in favour of oral reviews given to each individual pupil, and this has left many parents wondering how they can find out how well their children are doing in the classroom.
The paper visited Poikkilaakso Elementary School in Helsinki, where in the past pupils were graded in some subjects starting in the fifth grade and in all subjects starting in the sixth grade. Today, all pupils get oral feedback, and in the spring will receive report cards with a written evaluation of their progress.
By law, subject-by-subject grades have to be given starting in the 8th grade. Ilta-Sanomat says that because the new ungraded system in elementary schools is unfamiliar to parents, many may be shocked to discover their children are not geniuses, once they finally see a graded report card.
Tuija Metso of the Finnish Parents' League told the paper that she understand the confusion and concerns of parents who themselves were graded throughout their school years. What's need now, she says, is a way for parents to learn what these evaluations mean.