Benefits Student Samuli Hillebrandt pays for his shopping bag with loan money, because the common-law partner earns too much, ie less than 2,000 euros a month

When Samuli Hillebrandt and Sirkku Tuomisto moved to the same roof in Jyväskylä in July, Hillebrandt’s housing costs increased.

At the same time, the monthly income of Hillebrandt, who studies communication management at the University of Jyväskylä, decreased by more than a hundred. When he has paid his own half of the monthly rent, 340 euros, 30 euros remain in hand.

“I used to live in a 20-square-meter student unit and left 170 euros a month after a 320-euro rent. For some, the difference may not sound like much, but when you don’t earn anything as a student, it’s a big piece. ”

Previously, Hillebrandt was able to cover the food costs of the month almost entirely with a housing allowance of 170 euros and a study grant.

For students the housing allowance to be paid changed in August 2017 when the student allowance for housing supplement changed to general housing allowance.

Where the study grant and the related housing allowance housing supplement were individual, the general housing allowance is paid on the basis of the entire household, in Kela’s terms, canteen, size and income.

The change was justified in two ways, says Kela’s research manager Signe Jauhiainen. The first was the simplification of social security: the form of housing benefit would remain the same even if the life situation of the recipient changed. In addition, the aim was to improve the level of support and guarantee students access to housing support also in the summer months.

According to Jauhiainen, these goals have since been met – although not everyone has improved the level of support.

The winners of the reform were students living alone, whose support in the reform could grow by more than one hundred euros a month. The losers, on the other hand, were households where the income of the working spouse could take away the housing allowance of the studying spouse altogether.

In connection with the bill in 2016 was evaluatedthat the reform could completely lose about one-fifth of students who had previously received a housing supplement. The majority of the losers were couples.

It has not yet been determined in Kela whether the estimate kept itching.

Although housing benefits for many increased after the reform, at the same time the maximum amount of study grants was reduced from EUR 337 to EUR 250. The student loan ceiling was again increased, and after the 2017 reform the student loan stock has almost doubled.

Schooling Sirkku Tuomisto, who works as a director, has a monthly gross income of less than 2,000 euros. That’s enough to snag a portion of Hillebrandt’s housing allowance.

“When I started work, it was unclear how many hours a week my contract would be. It occurred to me that if I asked for fewer hours a week and earned less, Samuli could get more housing support, ”says Tuomisto.

In the end, he still ended up accepting the maximum number of hours per week offered.

Hillebrandt’s monthly income mainly consists of student fees paid by Kela (EUR 254 per month) and general housing allowance (EUR 129). In addition, depending on the month, he can get some tens of euros in side revenue from his podcast series.

He pays for most of the food expenses with a student loan, which has accumulated about 40,000 euros by the end of his studies.

For low income Finland defines a person whose disposable income after taxes does not exceed 60 per cent of the national median income. In the household of two adults, the low-income limit was 2,300 euros in 2019. Tuomisto and Hillebrandt remain below the limit.

In the economy, costs are divided equally. Each pays half of the rent of 681 euros, and both put 200 euros a month into a common food account.

“Because I earn more than Samuli, I have tried to suggest that I put a little more money in the account and Samuli put a little less. But he does not accept alms, ”Tuomisto says and smiles.

“Probably no one in a couple wants to be the party that feels they live on the other side of the wing,” Hillebrandt says.

The couple hopes that housing allowance will be made individual. If the income of the cohabiting spouse did not affect the support received by the studying spouse, the Court would not have to worry about whether the additional working hours would take up Hillebrandt’s housing allowances.

The government’s program also includes an effort to develop housing support in a more individual direction. The matter has also been considered by a social security committee appointed by the government.

What individualization would follow? This was recently modeled by Kela’s mathematicians Marjo Pyy-Martikainen and Paula Kurkiwho opened the results for Kela research blog.

At least the income gap between households would level off slightly and low income would fall somewhat.

Reform would be costly. Depending on the scenario, Kela’s annual housing support expenses would increase by approximately EUR 510–620 million, compared to EUR 2,232 million last year.

The number of households receiving support would almost double. With a total of 400,000 canteens receiving general housing support in December 2020, up to 300,000 more canteens would be covered by the reform.

At the same time, quite well-off households would be covered. New beneficiaries would be, for example, adult children living with well-to-do parents who have little income of their own.

I support individualization would be quite a robust and expensive operation for the problem of student couples, Jauhiainen states. The canteen-specific system also has its advantages.

“When calculating the amount of support when looking at the income of the whole household, it is possible to effectively target support to the lowest income households.”

The risk of the model would be that subsidies would flow even to those who do not need them, admit Tuomisto and Hillebrandt.

On the other hand, in their view, the system needs to be reformed, whether the change is the individualisation of housing benefits or a moderate increase in the income limits of housing benefits.

“The current system raises the question that this is how it is responsible for the expenses and income of another adult, even though we are not even married,” Tuomisto adds.

According to the law those living in marriage have a mutual maintenance obligation. There is no corresponding law for cohabiting people.

The law on general housing assistance however, it is specified that the total income of cohabiting partners is considered when paying housing allowance, as cohabiting cohabiting partners form a common canteen.

The situation has also sparked debate on HS’s opinion pages.

Read more: Kela does not understand how a relationship works

Samuli Hillebrandtin is scheduled to graduate with a master’s degree next year. If all goes well and there are jobs for a recent master of economics, there will be no need for housing support for long.

“However, I want it to be easier for people who are still studying and who find themselves in the same situation. And that the support system would not be one that encourages living alone rather than together. ”

Despite everything, Hillebrandt and Tuomisto have come to the conclusion that the good sides of living together outweigh the bad ones.

“While it keeps knocking in the mind that hopefully nothing surprising is going to swallow all the money, financial worries can be shared with another person,” Tuomisto says.

“Everyday life together is really wonderful. And misery is even harder when it is allowed to be shared with another, ”Hillebrandt says and laughs.