The vitality of the center | Will the direction of Helsinki change? Decision-makers demand the construction of apartments in the core

Helsinki we need to get more apartments in the city center. This is presented by the greens Osmo Soininvaara and 31 other Helsinki politicians in their council initiative.

The councilors demand that the city's official apparatus take determined measures to significantly increase housing in the center and its immediate vicinity.

The matter will be discussed in the city council in mid-January. Ultimately, the politicians in the city council decide on the matter.

Crab stairs in Kesko's old office building remind residents of history. Picture: Tiiu Hyyryläinen / HS

Helsinki has already figured out how to increase housing and jobs in the center, the initiative's response says. According to the proposal, it is still intended to approach changes in the purpose of use of buildings in the future more openly than before.

The most important goal of the civil service is to increase the number of visitors, the demand for services and the vibrancy of the city center.

The new seaside residential areas of the inner city, Kalasatama and Jätkäsaari, have already brought more new residents a quarter of a mile from the services of the center, the presentation reminds.

The center attractiveness has been talked about in public a lot lately.

The discussion has included, for example, empty and underutilized premises whose users have decreased as a result of remote work due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It has been suggested in the public debate that it should be possible to build even more apartments in old offices. Also the mayor Juhana Vartiainen (kok) has proposed that the conversion of business premises to residential use should be facilitated.

The city has traditionally taken a cautious approach to increasing the number of residents in the core, and the position does not seem to have changed much now.

It has been wanted to keep the center primarily as a concentration of offices and services.

The core center and its surrounding areas are a significant concentration in the number of jobs.

Depending on the regional delimitation, there are approximately 100,000 jobs in the center of Helsinki, while there are approximately 250,000 jobs in the entire inner city area.

According to the official's proposal, market surveys show that the offices in the city center area are still of strong interest to companies.

During the years 2015–2021, office space in southern Helsinki has decreased by approximately 250,000 floor square meters, when the premises have been converted to other uses.

At the same time, additional construction and changes in purpose of use have increased the amount of housing and other accommodation in the area.

Inner city just under 2,500 permanent residents now live in more than 40 conversion sites.

Although new residents increase the demand for local services, decreasing jobs in turn weaken it, the official's presentation points out.

New housing projects in the central area are also partly limited by public services needed by residents, such as schools and daycare centers, for which it can be difficult to find suitable premises.