The Orpo government's cuts to general housing allowance will take effect on April 1, 2024. The Student Union of the University of the Arts Helsinki (TaiYo) is deeply concerned about the cuts to social security, particularly those affecting a large portion of students.
"Over 40 percent of current housing allowance recipients are student households. With the various cuts to general housing allowance, it's evident that students will bear a significant impact. The amount of housing allowance is being reduced, the basic deductible is rising, the increased support for Helsinki is being removed, and support for owner-occupied homes will no longer be available. I consider the removal of the earned income deduction particularly harmful, as every earned euro affects the amount of housing allowance. This makes it more difficult to earn vital additional income, risking that workloads become unreasonable, hindering progress in studies," states Sara Koiranen, Chairperson of TaiYo.
"Art students are particularly affected due to the structure of their studies, which often involve full-time presence in classes. When these students take weekend jobs, their workweeks become closer to 60-hour weeks, which are in no way reasonable. It's also concerning how the current Finnish government communicates about upcoming cuts 'jokingly' and 'with humor', when it concerns the livelihood and well-being of students and other Finns," comments Willjam Tigerstedt, Vice Chair of TaiYo and board member responsible for social policy.
"We hope that the government listens to the distress of students in their next budget session and doesn't target further adaptation needs towards students or social security in general," conclude Koiranen and Tigerstedt.
TaiYo advocates for student social security as part of the National union of university students in Finland (SYL). You can read more about the changes to general housing allowance from the information package compiled by SYL here:
https://syl.fi/en/information-sheet-heres-how-the-housing-allowance-cuts-will-affect-you/
English (UK) 
Suomi 
Svenska