Hotel or dorm is sought in Helsinki to accommodate growing number of asylum-seekers

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A suitable building is being sought to act as an asylum-seeker reception centre in Helsinki.
      According to Helsinki Social Services Department head Paavo Voutilainen, from the administration point of view Helsinki would be the best place for such a centre. “Operationally this will be Helsinki’s responsibility. Therefore, it would be best if the new unit was as close as possible to the old ones”, Voutilainen says.
      The matter was first reported by The Finnish Broadcasting Company’s (YLE) news service, Ylen aikainen.
     
There is a pressing need to find suitable premises. “We’re frantically scanning through various options. According to the state, we need places for 300 individuals, but even 150 would be a good start.”
      According to Voutilainen, once a suitable building has been found, operations there can be set up swiftly.
      The necessary social workers and nurses would primarily be hired from the capital area, even though there has been interest towards such positions from elsewhere in the country as well.
      A suitable place for the centre would be an old student hall of residence, a hotel, or any other building with lots of small rooms. “We hope the place would fulfil the human worth criteria, and would also provide a level of intimacy”, Voutilainen explains.
     
In Otaniemi, Espoo, the centre would have been made ready in a couple of weeks, explains Leena Markkanen, head of the Helsinki Reception Centre.
      According to Markkanen, the setting up of a facility for 300 adult asylum-seekers in the former dorm of the National Police College on the Otaniemi campus site had already been planned quite far as a civil servant assignment ordered from the Helsinki Reception Centre by the government (see attached article from November).
      “I personally paid a visit to the site. It would have suited the purpose remarkably well. The dorm even had a large dining hall.”
     
Because of the rapidly increased number of people applying for asylum in Finland, the undertaking is of high-priority.
      According to the Ministry of the Interior, there is a pressing need for up to a thousand additional places, Markkanen says.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Mayor Jussi Pajunen concerned about growth in immigration (2.12.2008)
  What does Jussi Halla-aho really want? (2.12.2008)

See also:
  Espoo surprised at planned asylum-seekers´ reception centre in Otaniemi (21.11.2008)

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