At the end of last year, Helsinki City Housing Company (Heka), Finland's largest landlord, made news for raising rents by an average of 12 percent. Today more than 1,000 Heka flats sit empty.
Heka has some 1,500 vacant apartments. At the same time, 10,500 housing applications await processing.
Helsingin Sanomat has reported that the vacant rental apartments mean million-euro monthly losses for Heka, which had to increase rents last year due to financial difficulties.
Heka houses more than 90,000 of the capital's residents. These apartments are allocated by the City of Helsinki's housing services, with priority given to the homeless and other applicants of limited means and low income.
Yle looked into why so many apartments are uninhabited.
1. Supply and demand mismatch
Most Heka flats are either two rooms or larger. Out of over 1,000 vacant apartments, only about 50 are studios. One-room flats make up just a fifth of Heka's offering, but at the same time, the city says most people are seeking affordable studios, with 61 percent of applicants wanting a one-room apartment.
Sometimes applicants want bigger places but struggle to afford them.
Single parents make up 16 percent of all applicants and most of them are looking for three rooms, according to Oscar Ailio, who heads housing services at the city's urban environment division.
"Single parents are applying for three-room apartments, but it's challenging for a single-parent household to find a sufficiently affordable apartment of this size," he explained.
2. More turning down offers
More people are declining Heka's offers than before. Currently, about 60 percent of housing applicants reject the rental apartments Heka offers, up from 40 percent previously.
Ailio said this trend slows down the apartment queue.
Heka CEO Jaana Närö meanwhile said the current market situation means that people have more choice than a year ago.
"There are apartments available in Helsinki, so residents can choose. When we make an offer, they may have already found housing elsewhere," she said.
3. Bureaucracy
Heka does not select the tenants for their apartments, as that task is handled by the city's urban environment division's housing services unit.
Peter Tammenheimo, who represents Heka residents, said he believes that there would be fewer vacant apartments if the leasing, tenant selection and marketing were consolidated into a single unit, unlike the current setup.
"This is a classic case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing," he said.
Ailio from Helsinki's housing services, however, said the city is constantly working to improve cooperation with Heka.
"We have increased personnel for tenant selection to keep vacancy rates as low as possible," he added.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here.