Homeless people go underground to escape the cold

Some throw themselves on the ground, hoping that police would take them to a lock-up for the night

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By Sami Takala
     
      The thermometer shows -10 degrees Celsius, the man’s fingers are frozen, and steam is rising from his mouth.
      ”This is almost like summer weather”, says Helsinki resident Esko without shivering. He has no woolly pipo on his head, and his hands are gloveless.
      The man wants to appear in public only as Esko, being unwilling to reveal his surname.
     
Nevertheless, the 53-year-old ex-homeless person admits that the winter is by far the worst season for someone without a roof over his head.
      ”It has sometimes been so cold that I have almost been frozen upright”, Esko says.
      Now Esko no longer needs to suffer from the cold, and he is satisfied with his life.
      He has had a roof over his head for almost two years.
      Previously he used to sleep outdoors - now here, now there.
      ”I used to kip down in the Tähtitorninmäki Park or down by the Market Square”, Esko adds.
     
Many homeless Helsinki residents live in very grim circumstances.
      There are not warm places for everyone. However, it is even more miserable outside the Greater Helsinki area, where still less help is available for homeless people.
      Helsinki is a Mecca for the homeless, with people coming in from all parts of the country.
      ”Here they are eligible for social welfare services. Because of the recent frosty weather, the number of emergency shelters should be increased quickly”, Esko argues.
      Ulla Pyyvaara, a counsellor from the No Fixed Abode NGO, says that some of the homeless voluntarily want to go to a police lock-up as it is a warm place with a soft mattress for everybody.
      ”The homeless gather in front of Kisahalli, throwing themselves down into the street in order that they would be admitted into the lock-up”, Pyyvaara notes.
      The number of homeless persons in the overnight drunk-tank cells at Helsinki’s Kisahalli lock-up has increased during the frosty weather.
      ”Some five or six homeless persons arrive at the lock-up on a daily basis”, reports ward nurse Nina Willberg.
     
Esko takes the last puffs of his cigarette.
      It is quiet inside the Itäkeskus shopping mall on Epiphany, as nearly all the stores are closed.
      Not even homeless people are seen loitering there, but there is another reason for that.
      ”In the shopping malls the guards come harassing us right away, chasing us away if we look even a bit dishevelled”, Esko complains.
      Public toilets offer luxury for many homeless, as they have underfloor heating.
      ”Most toilet compartments are occupied, as a visit costs only 50 cents”, Esko notes.
     
Some homeless individuals take to drinking every day, as alcohol keeps them warm, or at least offers the sensation of warmth.
      Other popular hideouts against the cold weather are public transport facilities.
      For example, Esko has not been able to give up his old habit, and his favourite pastime continues to be tram and Metro rides.
      ”I wake up some minutes past 5 a.m., dash into the first tram and go to VEPA to have my morning coffee”, Esko adds.
     
VEPA is a centre for voluntary operation and peer support in Kinaporinkatu in Helsinki’s district of Sörnäinen. The centre is maintained by the No Fixed Abode NGO.
      ”I travel by Metro in search of adventure many times a day, and sometimes I ride through all the tram lines”, Esko continues to outline his daily schedule.
     
Occasionally the frequent traveller is given the cold shoulder and thrown out of a vehicle.
      ”Even if I have a valid ticket, I may be thrown out, if I happen to fall asleep, for instance”, Esko regrets.
      Sometimes Esko wants to pamper himself by cruising on the ferry over to Suomenlinna, by eating out - usually at a hot-dog stand - or by treating himself to a hamburger that costs only one euro - or by having coffee at an R-kiosk.
      ”Sometimes I am on the road so late that I have no longer enough strength to return home and so I just kip downtown”, Esko explains.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 7.1.2010
     
     
The problem of the homeless in Finland is centred on the larger cities, and in particular on the Greater Helsinki area, as noted above.
      The actual numbers of the homeless are not known precisely, but according to figures from the municipalities in 2005 there were approximately 7,500 without a roof over their heads. One in two of them was living in the capital region.
      The figure has been declining slowly in the past decade, as the availability of rental apartments has reduced the numbers living rough.
      In the late autumn of 1967, more than 40 homeless persons died in Helsinki, prompting a public movement to attempt to eradicate homelessness and provide emergency shelters. The No Fixed Abode NGO was set up in 1986.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Homeless shelters are the only places for many in Helsinki (3.5.2006)
  Reijo has no fixed abode (25.10.2005)
  Night of the Homeless on Sunday night (18.10.2004)

Links:
  No Fixed Abode NGO

SAMI TAKALA / Helsingin Sanomat
sami.takala@hs.fi