Evictions have increased significantly in the first half of the year, according to figures from the Finnish Enforcement Authority.
In the larger cities of Helsinki, Turku, Tampere and Jyväskylä, the increase has been even steeper.
The change is evident in the work of homeless charity No Fixed Abode, according to the organisation's communications chief, Erja Morottaja.
"The government's cuts in the first part of the year were even evident in our services and clients in the summer," said Morottaja. "We've seen a lot of new clients in our advice service and day centre."
Low-income workers a new client group
Morottaja says that cuts in social security have prompted a new group of people to seek housing help: the working poor. Many of them have had a letter from Kela explaining that housing benefit payments will be reduced.
"These people are in low-paid and gig work," said Morottaja. "They no longer have the funds to pay their rent. They have received housing benefits but Kela has sent a letter telling them they live in too expensive a flat. The rent could be 10, 20 or 50 euros over the threshold. People are worried."
She says that it is not easy to find cheap rental properties in the capital city region, so low-income people have little choice.
Those in work had not thought they would have to worry about homelessness, according to Morottaja.
"They don't necessarily even know where to go to seek help," said Morottaja. "They stay with relatives or acquaintances, and hidden homelessness does not show up in statistics or services."
In summer there is a lot of hidden homelessness, because during the warmer months people find it easier to stay with friends, relatives or previously unknown people offering shelter.
That can expose women and sexual minorities, especially, to the risk of abuse, according to Morottaja.
The majority of unhoused people are men, but the charity is seeing increasing numbers of women, young people and immigrants. For example, many people from the Baltics and other countries have worked in construction and lived in shared accommodation that has been taken away when work dried up.
Help sought in time can prevent drawn-out eviction process
Morottaja emphasises that eviction can often be avoided and rent arrears can be negotiated, so long as tenants seek help in time.
No Fixed Abode is currently conducting a 'Stop evictions' campaign, which seeks to prevent homelessness by helping people before their situation escalates into the loss of their home.
"You can hear from clients about the increase in evictions," said Morottaja. "When someone seeks our services, there is often the threat of eviction or fear that eviction might soon happen. When someone has rent arrears, and they can't pay them off, it can be difficult to find a rental apartment."
"These things concern and scare people," she said.
Finland has seen strenuous efforts to minimise homelessness, reducing the homelessness rate significantly.
From a level of 20,000 unhoused people in 1987, by the end of 2023 it had fallen to around 3,500. Morottaja said she fears that this number might increase as government cuts start to bite.
"We have people coming to us with very difficult situations resulting from multiple crises," said Morottaja. "Homelessness is really crushing. It causes insecurity and fear and affects your health."
There can be substance abuse or mental health issues lying behind homelessness, but also changes in life circumstances like illness or divorce can cause financial difficulties. Many people who have been evicted are already on low incomes.
According to the Housing and Development Centre of Finland, around 90 percent of evictions result from rent arrears. Other typical reasons for eviction can be anti-social behaviour, breach of rental agreements, poor maintenance of the property or subletting without permission.
Eviction is a long and expensive process that costs between 6,000 and 10,000 euros. Those costs are paid by the landlord.
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