Help for a person who has become homeless
Becoming homeless is a major crisis in your life. You can get help from the social service authorities and non-governmental organisations.
Call the social welfare emergency services in your wellbeing services county and ask for emergency accommodation. In some towns and cities also parishes and non-governmental organisations may provide a warm shelter for the night for a homeless person.
Contact the social welfare services in your wellbeing services county promptly. You can also contact a shelter. Shelters offer support, crisis assistance and a temporary place of safety free of charge around the clock. Visit the website of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) to find out the contact details of the shelter nearest to you (in Finnish)Opens in a new window.. You can also seek help from a shelter that is located outside your home municipality.
If you need someone to talk to you immediately, you can call a helpline such as NollalinjaOpens in a new window., which is a national service provider.
Contact the social welfare services in your wellbeing services county. The social worker will help you find a home as soon as possible. The wellbeing services county will first try to organise a home for you. After that, you will also receive support for the treatment of your substance abuse problem and other possible problems. You can get help for your situation also from health care.
Ask your friends or relatives for help first. Ask them if they can take your belongings and store them until you manage to find a home.
You can also keep your belongings in paid storage facilities. Many localities have companies that rent out storage space for short-term and long-term storage. When you make the agreement, calculate how much the storage as a whole will cost in case it takes long to find a home.
The social welfare services in your wellbeing services county will help you. If you have been without a permanent home for a long time, you could also contact the non-governmental organisations that provide services for homeless people.
If you are a young adult aged under 29, also contact outreach youth work in your home municipality.
The social worker will assess whether you are eligible for supported housing. Supported housing is meant for persons with problems such as substance abuse or mental health problems. Prolonged homelessness may also be a ground for eligibility for supported housing.
If your income is not enough to pay the rent, you may be entitled to Kela´s general housing allowance. In addition to your income, the size of your family and the number of dependent children affect the amount of the allowance.
Your landlord may require that you pay a rent security deposit, for example, a deposit corresponding to one month's rent. If you cannot afford this but you are entitled to basic social assistance, you can apply for a financial commitment from Kela for the deposit.
You can apply to the public social welfare services for discretionary social assistance. It is possible to apply for it towards the extra costs resulting from your new life situation. However, please note that you must apply to Kela for basic social assistance before you can receive discretionary social assistance from your wellbeing services county's social welfare services.