Refugees gravitate toward Helsinki

Flow from other parts of Finland prevents Helsinki from taking quota refugees

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Last year nearly 300 refugees and asylum seekers who have been granted residence permits have moved to Helsinki from other parts of Finland.
      About two thirds of them did not have a home of their own when they came to the region.
      “They are now with relatives, or wherever”, says Sari Karisto, head of immigrant services at the Helsinki City Social Services Department.
     
Because of the flow of immigrants within Finland to the south, cities of the greater Helsinki have become increasingly reluctant to settle refugees taken in as part of the annual national quota.
      Helsinki and Vantaa have decided not to take in any groups of quota refugees. Espoo is still taking quota refugees.
     
State officials have found it difficult to find municipalities which would be willing to accept more refugees.
      Refugee reception centres currently have hundreds of asylum seekers who have been granted residence permits, but who have not been accepted for settlement in any municipality.
      Some of them move to another location on their own, in spite of uncertainties. Many go to Helsinki, where officials are constantly dealing with related problems.
     
“The migration causes us tremendous amounts of work. It is purely a matter of resources that Helsinki is not taking any quota refugees”, Karisto says.
      Currently about 350 quota refugees are waiting for the go-ahead to move to Finland, says Tiina Pesonen of the Ministry of the Interior.
     
About thirty municipalities a year take in quota refugees.
      “The situation with the municipalities has become increasingly difficult. The recession and the economic condition of the municipalities also reflects on taking in refugees.”
     
Local authorities say that the compensation that they get from the state for taking in refugees is not enough, even though there was a ten per cent increase this year.
      For instance, Helsinki considered taking quota refugees this year, but cancelled the plan this week because the state could not provide enough money.
      “So many people move to Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa on their own that their resources run out”, says Minna Kuivalainen, a planner at the Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of Uusimaa.
     
There are many municipalities in Uusimaa which do not take in any quota refugees or asylum seekers.
      Kuivalainen feels that the local authorities should share responsibility evenly.
      “The municipalities of the Helsinki region bear their responsibility fairly well on the national scale”, she says.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Survey: Finns´ attitudes toward immigration have become more negative (15.3.2010)
  Helsinki: city of immigrants (28.2.2010)
  Unexpected debate over quota refugees (25.2.2010)
  Cutting down on number of quota refugees may increase human trafficking (24.2.2010)

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