Capital area residents are increasingly squeezed by housing, with those living in Uusimaa having the country’s smallest living spaces.
In Helsinki alone, more than 128,000 people were classified as living in cramped conditions in 2023. Espoo saw 58,000 residents in similar circumstances, while Vantaa had 49,000.
According to Statistics Finland, some 864,000 people were living small at the end of 2023, up from 852,000 the year before. The number cruncher defines overcrowded living as there being more than one person per room in a home, excluding the kitchen.
Yle caught up with Elina Havu and her son, Eino, who live in a rented one-room apartment in downtown Helsinki.
How did they get here?
Before divorcing nine years ago, Elina Havu lived on Suomenlinna island with her husband and son.
She wanted to stay on the island but was unable to find housing there. At the time of the separation, her son, Eino was about to start elementary school on the island and wanted to stay with his friends. The father stayed on Suomenlinna initially but moved off the island a couple of years later. After that, Eino lived with his mother.
Ultimately the family downsized from a 100-square-metre home on the fortress island to a 35-square-metre apartment in Kruununhaka, a historic district just across the water, meaning Eino could continue at the same island school.
Forty-two-year-old Havu shares the home with her son in a 1920s apartment building.
Havu’s rent is 1,070 euros per month, totalling 1,200 euros with water and electricity.
“For the same price, I’d get a two-room place farther away from the centre.”
Elina, who works as an equality specialist, said she can’t afford a larger apartment in the city centre on her own.
“We’ve really liked living here,” she said of their studio that’s now right by Eino’s middle school in Kruununhaka.
Many of his current classmates went to the same local Suomenlinna lower school. These days he visits the island every week for scouts.
Creative solutions
Now that Eino is 15 and craves more personal space, Elina has had to get creative with the flat. While their home is a studio, there’s a door dividing the space into a separate bedroom. The living room is mom’s domain, while the bedroom is Eino’s kingdom.
Compact living means combining essential pieces of furniture into one. In this family’s case, mom sleeps on the living room sofa.
Right now, Eino wants to make the bedroom his own, and Elina said she fully supports him decorating the walls however he likes. She also plans to get him his own TV.
“He might stay in his own space all evening, and we’ve agreed that I won’t even go in to take anything out of the bedroom during that time,” she explained.
Elina herself grew up in a somewhat different environment, raised in a 170-square-metre single-family house in North Ostrobothnia.
“In a big house, you don’t spend a lot of time together because everyone can retreat to their own room. I’ve been able to stay close to my son,” she added.
Eino said he doesn’t mind their less-than-typical living situation.
“I’ve never thought about it being too small. I can do everything — I’ve been able to hang out with my friends and play music,” he said.
Taking some of the pressure off is their building’s communal space, which Eino heads to when he wants to spend time with friends. Sometimes when his friends come over, she works later at the office.
“I work for an NGO so there’s a lot of evening meetings,” she added.
Sometimes, when Eino has friends over late, his mom stays the night at a hotel for some extra space.
Elina says she plans to live even smaller when Eino one day moves out.
“I’ve been looking at 20-square-metre apartments. I’m drawn to co-living situations, and I hope that there will be more of these kinds of innovations in the future.”
The initial plan was for the Havus to live in their Kruununhaka apartment until Eino starts high school. But now it seems his future high school will be nearby.
“We might not even move away. We don’t have a lot of square metres, but we’ve got the whole city,” Elina said.
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