Helsinki councillors do not want to throw Roma beggars into cold streets

print this

Members of the Helsinki City Council were at something of a loss for solutions during a debate Wednesday evening on the problem surrounding Ruma beggars from Romania in the city.
      The most acute issue concerns the emergency housing provided for the beggars. Helsinki is currently paying the Deaconess Institute for housing for 22 people, 11 of whom are underage. The total number of Roma living on begging in Helsinki is estimated to be between 40 and 50.
     
The city is scheduled to end its emergency housing programme at the end of January. The aim is to send those in the housing back to their home country, following social assessments.
      Most of the councillors were shocked at the idea of ending the emergency housing.
      “Nobody in Helsinki is thrown out into subfreezing temperatures”, said Laura Räty, chair of the National Coalition Party’s group in the Helsinki City Council.
      “Officials in Helsinki also have the obligation to protect the human rights of beggars from abroad”, said Yrjö Hakanen (Finnish Communist Party).
      The Social Democrats and the Centre Party were mostly silent on the issue.
     
The Roma question was raised by council member Kimmo Helistö (Green) after Helsinki officials cleared away makeshift dwellings set up in the Kalasatama area in late October. Helistö’s interpellation on the treatment of the Romanian Roma got support from fellow Greens, as well as councillors from the Social Democratic Party, the Left Alliance, the Swedish People’s Party and the Centre.
      The greatest concern at the time involved the arranging of emergency housing.
      Helsinki Mayor Jussi Pajunen (Nat. Coalition Party) says that the situation is difficult, but he feels that begging is not acceptable as a part of Finnish culture.
     
“The end of emergency housing does not mean that families with children will be sent out into the cold. However, I continue to hope that the state will take action to restore the city’s old ordinances which ban begging.”
      Pajunen says that the emergency housing with the Deaconess Institute has cost the city about EUR 80,000, for which Helsinki plans to invoice the state of Romania.
      Helistö feels that a better solution is to put the beggars to work. “They could clean the streets for five or six hours a day”, he said.
      The council voted to accept the City Board’s response to the interpellation by a vote of 50-27 after midnight.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Migrant Roma beggars in centre of Helsinki live in tents under bridge (5.2.2008)
  Roma beggars removed from illegal makeshift camp (28.10.2009)
  Migrant Roma people in Helsinki collect empty bottles and beg, trying to evade interference from police (5.8.2009)
  Mayor Pajunen wants new law to ban begging (19.5.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat