European Union information center in Helsinki

This might be interesting for those of you who are EU-citicens and might need some information or advice about possibilities, duties and right that you have when you move or spend time in Finland.

In Malminkatu 16, close to Kamppi shopping center you can find the Representation of the European Commission in Finland. You can find info material on lots of different topics e.g. what you have to consider when moving within the EU. There is also always someone sitting at the information desk that can help you with problems or questions. Furthermore they arrange events and lectures on various topics. You should drop by and ask for their program. You can also find information about them on their website which unfortunately is just available in Finnish and Swedish.

How does your dream apartment look like?

The Helsinki City Planning Department wants to find out about what people’s dream apartments would look like to make Helsinki an even more livable place. At Laituri first results of their cooperation with Helsinki’s inhabitants are on display.

If you were to create your own dream apartment how would it look like? And how would it differ from the way you live at the moment? The City Planning Department asked these questions to people from around the city. 

Space for a sauna

Among others Juhani Tauriainen, a retired professor for political science, had the chance to draw his dream apartment. “It has to be close to the sea or at least to a lake. The presence of water is very important to me.” Also the aspect of space plays a big role for Juhani. He created a lot of storing space in his apartment and also made the bathroom a bit bigger – for the sauna of course.

The ideas of Juhani and seven other Helsinki inhabitants are displayed at Laituri in the center of Helsinki now. With models and drawings the Helsinki Housing Fair 2020 shows how they could imagine their dream apartment to look like. But also innovative and already realized housing projects from around the world are displayed. Architect and project coordinator Hilla Rudanko explains: “The exhibition wants to provoke. We want to show what was been done already elsewhere and what ideas the people in Helsinki have. We leave it to the visitors to think about which ideas they could imagine to be implemented in Helsinki.”

It would be wonderful to make individual housing possible where everyone could design and build their own individual apartment, Hilla says. People could get together in groups and build their dream house together. To get as close as possible to this vision, you have to ask people about their dreams.

To understand what people’s needs and dreams for housing are Hilla Rudanko and her team wanted to question as many people as possible. After making video interviews with the first eight candidates they already got so many good ideas and so much film material that they decided to make an exhibition just with what they had captured so far. Along with the models of their apartments the interviews are now shown on a big screen at Laituri to the public.

Everyone’s ideas are welcome

But more ideas are always welcome. Till the end of the exhibition at April 28^th people have the possibility to fill in a questioner – at Laituri or online – about their ideal apartment. All ideas will be collected and be presented to designers, architects and the City Planning Department of Helsinki afterwards.

And in the near future there is going to be a lot of potential for those new ideas to become reality. The city of Helsinki has big plans. Within the next decades the districts of Länsisatama, Kalasatama and Kruunuvuorenranta will be constructed. Those major projects also bring a lot of space for creativity with them. Finding out how the people in Helsinki would like to live, what they think is important in an apartment, does not necessarily make city planning more easy but definitely more successful.

Help for newcomers in Finland

Moving to a new country is always a big step. You have to get used to the new surroundings, the differences to your home county and you also have to fight your way through a lot of bureaucracy. To make things a bit easier Luckan, the Swedish speaking community for information, culture, art and cooperation offers help. Their bridge program aims to provide information and counseling service for people new in Finland. They arrange events in English language but also can provide you with personal assistance if you need help. You arrange a meeting or can just drop by at their information point at Simonkatu 8 any time. Most of their services are for free.

Moving to Helsinki IV

During the last days I gave you some information about what to consider when moving to Helsinki. With those small hints you should be better prepared and ready to take a look at the recent offers on the market. But where should you search for places?

Links

Here are two really useful websites where you should be able to find a lot of offers and where you hopefully will find your new home.

http://asunnot.oikotie.fi/vuokrapalvelu

http://www.jokakoti.fi/vuokra-asunnot

And here is one more maybe quite interesting website for you. You should know that the biggest landlord here is the City of Helsinki itself. They offer apartments for reasonable rental prices. Find out more about how to apply to those under the following link:

http://www.hel.fi/hki/helsinki/en/Services/Housing+and+the+environment/Housing

Moving to Helsinki III

But where should you move? And how is it with the additional costs for an apartment? Here some more tips:

Location:

As in every bigger city there are differences depending on the location you choose. If you are searching for something with a low budget take a look at the area called Kallio. It is still pretty close to the city center, has great bus, tram and metro connection and offers a vivid nightlife. Especially for students it is a great choice. I wouldn’t recommend it for families that much though. As in most other cities too, the further you are away from the center the cheaper it gets. If you don’t mind living a bit further away you should also consider checking out Espoo and Vantaa. What? Never heard of them? Espoo is in face the second biggest city in Finland. But never mind. Those two cities are surrounding Helsinki and the prices here are a bit lower. But before you take any cheap offers always check how well the area where you want to live is connected to the center. You can find the connections on the website of the local public transportation company HSL. As your destination type in "Rautatientori" (Central Railway Station) or "Kamppi".

Additional costs:

Of course the bigger the apartment and the more people live there the more you have to pay for electricity and water (and maybe gas). One important thing you should know is that for water you pay a fixed price every month (between 10 and 15 Euros). You can use as much as you want. Maybe that has something to do with the huge amount of water that Finland holds (lakes and the sea). The price also includes the warm water. That means that in case the apartment has a normal radiator the heating is also included in the water fee.

To find out about the prices for internet and phone you can check from these companies:

DNA/Welho (mobile, internet, TV): http://www.dna.fi/

Sonera (mobile, internet, TV):  http://www.sonera.fi/

Saunalahti (mobile): http://saunalahti.fi/

You should know that in Finland most people don’t use landlines anymore. And the prices for calling are reasonable. So don’t bother trying to get a landline yourself.

To be continued!

Moving to Helsinki II

And here comes part two of useful information for finding a place in Helsinki:

Rent or buy:

In Finland it is very common to live in your own place. In contrast to most other countries and especially bigger cities renting is quite exceptional here.  But since I assume most of you interested in this topic are from abroad and are probably not planning on staying in Finland for ever I will focus on the rental market. The information here might still in most cases also apply for buying apartments.

Size:

Yes, size matters. Especially when it comes to living space. I guess the most challenging thing in Helsinki might be, to find a place where you want to live alone. Of course there are those small one room apartments but most likely they are very expensive compared to what you would pay if you live in a bigger place together. So if you come here as a student and are not planning on staying at university housing consider sharing an apartment with one or two classmates.

To be continued...

Moving to Helsinki I

Ok, the last days you had to read a lot about the weather here. Sorry for that! But now something useful. I want to open a new service category for you. Over the next days I will provide a bit of information to people who are planning to move to Helsinki or are already living here and searching for a new place to stay. Knowing where to find the apartments is one thing. But I think it is also quite useful to have some basic information about the apartment market in this city. That’s why I listed down some things you should know. Today I'll start with :

 

the price level

First of all you have to arrange yourself with the fact that Helsinki is probably one of the most expensive cities in Europe or even the world. There are so many rankings for the most expensive cities in the world that all come to different conclusions but let me tell you that Helsinki is quite often among the top 10. For an apartment in the center with one bedroom you pay an average rent of around 900 € per month. In Berlin you could probably get three bedrooms for that price. But also the living expenses are a bit higher here. It is quite obvious when you go out since especially the prices for alcohol are quite high. But also at the supermarket you will see a difference (especially with foreign products like cheese from the Netherlands). You’ll find a pretty good overview over the general price level here.

Stay tuned for more!