Reader’s opinion|The needs of the applicants often do not match the available apartments.
Matias Jefremoff, Outi Iivarinen and Jörgen Jensen wrote about Heka’s empty apartments (HS Opinion 20.6.). At the moment, the agency has around 1,500 apartments, or less than three percent of Heka’s apartments, including new and renovated apartments that will soon be completed, as well as apartments that will be vacated soon. Heka and the city of Helsinki strive to avoid empty apartments. Cooperation has been improved, and the city has already added staff to the housing agency last year.
The applicant can only be offered an apartment according to the application. Most of the people looking for one-room apartments and affordable two-room apartments, because the majority of people are looking for an apartment alone. The applicants’ needs therefore often do not match the available apartments, most of which are triangles. Housing offers are refused more often than before, and applicants have more to sort out, for example, regarding rent debts and previous evictions. These factors slow down the selection of residents.
Heka’s residents are selected based on the law based on housing need and application criteria, not on a waiting list basis. Priority is given to the homeless and others in the most urgent category, the neediest and the lowest-income. Decisions on apartment changes are also made according to urgency. One third of the new apartments are reserved for people who have changed.
Heka aims to reduce empty apartments, especially by increasing the efficiency of temporary housing. Before, the resident was offered an alternative apartment as close as possible during the renovation. Heka no longer reserves apartments for emergency use and only offers one emergency apartment out of the entire housing stock. However, the release of evasion apartments to be applied for temporarily increased the number of vacant apartments.
Oscar Ailio
housing services manager, urban environment sector, housing services
The City of Helsinki
Jaana Närö
CEO, Helsinki City Apartments Oy (Heka)
The reader’s opinions are speeches written by HS readers, which are selected and delivered by the HS editors. You can leave an opinion piece or familiarize yourself with the principles of the pieces at www.hs.fi/kiryotamielipidekeisuis/.
#Readers #Opinion #Hekas #apartments #delivered #quickly