Finland saw a 20 percent increase in homelessness last year, according to the daily Hufvudstadsbladet.

As of November 2025, there were 4,579 people without homes in the country, the paper reported on Thursday.

It cited data from the Centre for State-Subsidised Housing Construction. The centre has taken over tasks of the Housing Finance and Development Centre (Ara), which ended operations nearly a year ago.

According to the paper, homelessness was up in 2024, too. However, it noted that homelessness had been going down every year over the preceding decade.

The recent increase has increasingly affected young people (up by 40%) and women (up by 24%), even though the majority of unhoused people continue to be men.

Additionally, an increasing number of people with foreign backgrounds have nowhere to call home in Finland, according to the Swedish-language daily.

The majority of the homeless temporarily find places to stay with relatives and acquaintances, while 17 percent live in, for example, apartment building stairwells or shelters.

The largest number of homeless people in Finland are in Helsinki (980), followed by Tampere, Turku and Espoo.

According to Jussi Lehtonen, head of housing services at the NGO No Fixed Abode, there is a risk of even more people losing their homes, due to changes in housing benefits.

“[Benefits agency] Kela is requiring a large number of people on low incomes to move from homes that are deemed to be too expensive. Often, it’s only a question of a few tens of euros,” he said in a press release.

Flu across Finland

The flu epidemic currently ‘raging’ across Finland is a challenge for hospitals, Ilta-Sanomat reports. Specifically, it is type-A influenza.

Flu cases have spread across nearly all of Finland in January, after infections rose sharply just before the turn of the year, Ville Holmberg, chief physician at the infectious diseases unit of the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS), told the paper.

A case of influenza can be particularly dangerous for people in risk groups, like the elderly or those with underlying illnesses.

“It can even be severe for someone who’s completely healthy,” Holmberg noted.

Regular flu symptoms include cough, sore throat or high fever. However, if it is difficult or painful to breathe, or your condition clearly worsens, it’s time to go to the hospital, according to Holmberg.

“If the illness has lasted for a week and you’re already recovering a little, but your fever rises again suddenly and your condition worsens, it may be a sign of a secondary disease caused by bacteria that requires hospital treatment,” he told the paper.

The good news is that Finland has already seen the peak of the flu epidemic.

“We’re certainly more than halfway through the whole epidemic,” he said, adding that it will definitely take a few more weeks before it’s over.

Once type-A flu cases wane, type-B cases tend to rise. However, there have not been many confirmed type-B cases this year — at least so far.

But type-B influenza cases do not usually spread as much, or prompt hospitalisations as much as type-A cases, Holmberg explained.

It’s cold

Winter weather has a grip on the country this week, according to Iltalehti.

Falling and drifting snow will worsen driving conditions along the west coast on Thursday, the FMI has advised, the paper noted.

It reported that the Finnish Meteorological Institute has issued warnings for potentially dangerous driving conditions in many northern areas on Thursday.

The following day, there will be warnings of potentially dangerous cold temperatures issued for much of Lapland.

Then, on Saturday the Arctic chill will spread further south and east, according to FMI’s warning map.