“Not for Normal People“
The Specialization of Social Rental Housing in Finland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14288/acme.v19i2.1772Keywords:
Finland, housing policy, social housing, special groups, specialization, stigmatizationAbstract
Public housing is usually provided for people who cannot afford buying or renting housing on the private housing market. In Finland, the provision of rental public housing, or social housing as it is called, is divided into two categories: “normal rental housing” and “housing for special groups”. The “special groups” include people with so-called “special needs”, and the social rental housing provided for them is regarded a social service. The majority of new social rental housing is housing for special groups. The article asks, is Finland’s social housing turning into a social service, who belongs to special groups and why are they called special? In explaining the trajectory of the Finnish housing policy, the article analyses the process that the author suggests calling the “specialization” of social rental housing, which is the result of deinstitutionalization, piecemeal retrenchment of the welfare state from the housing sector and prioritizing private housing production.
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Madden, David and Peter Marcuse. 2016. In Defense of Housing. London: Verso.
Malpass, Peter and Alan Murie. 1982. Housing policy and practice. London: Macmillan.
Marcuse, Peter. 1989. ‘Dual city’: a muddy metaphor for a quartered city. International journal of urban and regional research, 13, 4: 697-708.
Means, Robin. 1996. “From ‘special needs’ housing to independent living?” Housing Studies 11, 2: 207-231.
Mäki-Fränti, Petri and Tuula Laukkanen. 2010. ARA-vuokratalokanta murroksessa: Rajoituksista vapautuneiden talojen käyttö ja omistajien suunnitelmat vapautuville taloille. Suomen ympäristö 24. Ympäristöministeriö, Rakennetun ympäristön osasto.
Oldman, Christine. 2003. Deceiving, theorizing and self-justification: a critique of independent living. Critical Social Policy 23, 1: 44-62.
Rintala, Taina. 1995. Medikalisaatio ja sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon palvelujärjestelmän rakentuminen 1946-1991. Stakes 54. Saarijärvi: Gummerus.
Roivainen, Irene. 1999. Sokeripala metsän keskellä. Lähiö sanomalehden konstruktiona. Helsingin kaupungin tietokeskus.
Ruonavaara, Hannu. 1995. Housing discourse and detached house ownership in early 20th century Finland. In Making Them Meet: Policy, Design, Management, Satisfaction, edited by J. Allen, I. Ambrose & S. Brink. Danish Building Research Institute, SBI & International Council for Building Research Studies and Documentation, CIB: Horsholm.
Ruonavaara, Hannu. 1996. The home ideology and housing discourse in Finland 1900–1950. Housing studies 11, 1: 89-104.
Ruonavaara, Hannu. 2017. Retrenchment and social housing: the case of Finland. Critical Housing Analysis, 4, 2: 8-18.
Selvitys ARAn erityisryhmien asumisen investointirahoituksesta ja palveluasumisesta. 2012. Ympäristöministeriön raportteja 21. (Report on the ARA investment grants for special groups’ housing).
Social Insurance Institution of Finland. 2018. Research blog. (http://tutkimusblogi.kela.fi/arkisto/4091 accessed on 7.8.2018).
Stewart, John, Jennifer Harris and Bob Sapey. 1999. Disability and Dependency: Origins and futures of ‘special needs’ housing for disabled people. Disability & Society 14, 1: 5-20.
Stonehouse, Darran, Guinever Threlkeld and Jane Farmer. 2015. ‘Housing risk’ and the neoliberal discourse of responsibilisation in Victoria. Critical Social Policy 35, 3: 393-413.
Taipale, Ilkka. 1982. Asunnottomuus ja alkoholi. Sosiaalilääketieteellinen tutkimus Helsingistä vuosilta 1937-1977. Alkoholitutkimussäätiön julkaisuja. Jyväskylä: Gummerus.
Thurber, Amie, Claire Riehle Bohmann, and Craig Anne Heflinger. 2018. Spatially integrated and socially segregated: The effects of mixed-income neighbourhoods on social well-being. Urban Studies 55, 9: 1859-1874.
Tulla, Sirpa. 1999. Securitisation and Finance for Social Housing in Finland. Urban Studies 36, 4: 647-656.
Vesanen, Pirjo. 1991. Hullunkirjoista talonkirjoihin. Selvitys laitos- ja avohoitopotilaiden asumisolosuhteista. Sosiaali- ja terveyshallitus, Raportteja 42/1991.
Antikainen, Janne, Seppo Laakso, Henrik Lönnqvist, Sinikukka Pyykkönen, Ilppo Soininvaara. 2017. Asuntopolitiikan kehittämiskohteita. Eduskunnan tarkastusvaliokunnan julkaisu 1/2017. (Housing policy report by the Parliament of Finland Audit Committee).
ARA The Housing Finance and Development Center: http://www.ara.fi/fi-FI/Ajankohtaista/Uutiset_ja_tiedotteet/Uutiset_ja_tiedotteet_2017/ARAlta_investoin
tiavustusvarauksia_yli_4%2842028%29 (accessed on 31.10.2017).
Bengtsson, Bo and Hannu Ruonavaara. 2010. Introduction to the Special Issue: Path Dependence in Housing. Housing, Theory and Society 27, 3: 193-203.
Bengtsson, Bo and Hannu Ruonavaara. 2011. Comparative Process Tracing in Housing Studies. International Journal of Housing Policy 11, 4: 395-414.
Boddy, Martin and Fred Gray. 1979. Filtering theory, housing policy and the legitimation of inequality. Policy & Politics 7, 1: 39-54.
Bourdieu, Pierre and Loïc Wacquant. 2001. Neoliberal newspeak: notes on the new planetary vulgate. Radical Philosophy 105: 1-6.
Clapham, David and Susan J. Smith. 1990. Housing policy and 'special needs'. Policy & Politics 18, 3: 193-206.
Crouch, Colin. 2017. Can Neoliberalism Be Saved from Itself? London: Social Europe.
Environment.fi (The Environmental Administration): http://www.ymparisto.fi/en-US/Housing/Housing_for_special_groups (accessed on 19.1.2018).
Fields, Desiree and Stuart Hodkinson. 2018. Housing Policy in Crisis: An International Perspective. Housing Policy Debate 28, 1: 1-5.
Finlex: Laki avustuksista erityisryhmien asunto-olojen parantamiseksi 1281/2004. (Act on Subsidies for Improving the Housing Conditions of Special Groups). http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2004/20041281?search[type]=pika&search[pika]=erityisryhm%C3%A4t (accessed 19.1.2018)
Fitzpatrick, Suzanne and Hal Pawson. 2014. Ending security of tenure for social renters: Transitioning to ‘ambulance service’ social housing? Housing Studies 29, 5: 597-615.
Forrest, Ray and Alan Murie. 1983. Residualization and council housing: Aspects of the changing social relations of housing tenure. Journal of Social Policy 12, 4: 453-468.
Fraser, Nancy. 1995. From Redistribution to Recognition? Dilemmas of Justice in a Post-Socialist Age. New Left Review 212: 68-93.
Gurney, Craig M. 1999. Pride and Prejudice: Discourses of Normalisation in Public and Private Accounts of Home Ownership. Housing studies 14, 2: 163-183.
Haila, Anne. 1994. Mielisairas kaupunki. In Ihmisten kaupunki? Urbaani muutos ja suunnittelun haasteet, edited by Tuukka Haarni. Stakes raportteja 152. Jyväskylä: Gummerus.
Haila, Anne. 2015. Kymmenen asuntopolitiikan myyttiä. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka 80, 3: 283-291.
Haila, Anne. 2016. Urban Land Rent: Singapore as a Property State. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.
Halla, Klaus and Matti Kyrö. 1979. Erityisryhmätutkimus. Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Research Department Publications 12/1979.
Hallituksen asuntopoliittiset ohjelmat. 2008. Ympäristöministeriön raportteja 15. (Government Housing Policy Programme).
Harloe, Michael. 1995. The people’s home: Social rented housing in Europe and America. Oxford: Blackwell.
Harvey, David. 2018. Universal Alienation and the Real Subsumption of Daily Life under Capital: A Response to Hardt and Negri. tripleC. 16, 2: 449-453.
Helsingin kaupungin talousarvio. 2018. ja taloussuunnitelma 2018–2020. (City of Helsinki Budget Plan 2018-2020).
Hyötyläinen, Mika and Anne Haila. 2017. Entrepreneurial public real estate policy: The case of Eiranranta, Helsinki. Geoforum, 89: 137-144.
Junnilainen, Lotta. 2019. Lähiökylä. Tutkimus yhteisöllisyydestä ja eriarvoisuudesta. Tampere: Vastapaino.
Juntto, Anneli. 1990. Asuntokysymys Suomessa. The Social History of Finnish Housing Policy from Philanthropy to Corporatism. Helsinki: Valtion painatuskeskus.
Juntto, Anneli. 1992. Post-Industrial Housing Crisis: Finland as a Case Study. Scandinavian Housing and Planning Research. 9, 2: 47-59.
Korhonen, Erkki. 1997. Helsingin sosiaalisen vuokra-asumisen haasteet. In Koti Helsingissä. Urbaanin asumisen tulevaisuus, edited by Kaarin Taipale and Harry Schulman. Helsingin kaupungin tietokeskus. Helsinki: Fagepaino.
Kuusi, Pekka. 1968. 60-luvun sosiaalipolitiikka. Porvoo: Werner Söderström Oy.
Lee, Peter and Alan Murie. 1999. Spatial and Social Divisions within British Cities: Beyond Residualisation. Housing Studies 14, 5: 625-640.
Madden, David and Peter Marcuse. 2016. In Defense of Housing. London: Verso.
Malpass, Peter and Alan Murie. 1982. Housing policy and practice. London: Macmillan.
Marcuse, Peter. 1989. ‘Dual city’: a muddy metaphor for a quartered city. International journal of urban and regional research, 13, 4: 697-708.
Means, Robin. 1996. “From ‘special needs’ housing to independent living?” Housing Studies 11, 2: 207-231.
Mäki-Fränti, Petri and Tuula Laukkanen. 2010. ARA-vuokratalokanta murroksessa: Rajoituksista vapautuneiden talojen käyttö ja omistajien suunnitelmat vapautuville taloille. Suomen ympäristö 24. Ympäristöministeriö, Rakennetun ympäristön osasto.
Oldman, Christine. 2003. Deceiving, theorizing and self-justification: a critique of independent living. Critical Social Policy 23, 1: 44-62.
Rintala, Taina. 1995. Medikalisaatio ja sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon palvelujärjestelmän rakentuminen 1946-1991. Stakes 54. Saarijärvi: Gummerus.
Roivainen, Irene. 1999. Sokeripala metsän keskellä. Lähiö sanomalehden konstruktiona. Helsingin kaupungin tietokeskus.
Ruonavaara, Hannu. 1995. Housing discourse and detached house ownership in early 20th century Finland. In Making Them Meet: Policy, Design, Management, Satisfaction, edited by J. Allen, I. Ambrose & S. Brink. Danish Building Research Institute, SBI & International Council for Building Research Studies and Documentation, CIB: Horsholm.
Ruonavaara, Hannu. 1996. The home ideology and housing discourse in Finland 1900–1950. Housing studies 11, 1: 89-104.
Ruonavaara, Hannu. 2017. Retrenchment and social housing: the case of Finland. Critical Housing Analysis, 4, 2: 8-18.
Selvitys ARAn erityisryhmien asumisen investointirahoituksesta ja palveluasumisesta. 2012. Ympäristöministeriön raportteja 21. (Report on the ARA investment grants for special groups’ housing).
Social Insurance Institution of Finland. 2018. Research blog. (http://tutkimusblogi.kela.fi/arkisto/4091 accessed on 7.8.2018).
Stewart, John, Jennifer Harris and Bob Sapey. 1999. Disability and Dependency: Origins and futures of ‘special needs’ housing for disabled people. Disability & Society 14, 1: 5-20.
Stonehouse, Darran, Guinever Threlkeld and Jane Farmer. 2015. ‘Housing risk’ and the neoliberal discourse of responsibilisation in Victoria. Critical Social Policy 35, 3: 393-413.
Taipale, Ilkka. 1982. Asunnottomuus ja alkoholi. Sosiaalilääketieteellinen tutkimus Helsingistä vuosilta 1937-1977. Alkoholitutkimussäätiön julkaisuja. Jyväskylä: Gummerus.
Thurber, Amie, Claire Riehle Bohmann, and Craig Anne Heflinger. 2018. Spatially integrated and socially segregated: The effects of mixed-income neighbourhoods on social well-being. Urban Studies 55, 9: 1859-1874.
Tulla, Sirpa. 1999. Securitisation and Finance for Social Housing in Finland. Urban Studies 36, 4: 647-656.
Vesanen, Pirjo. 1991. Hullunkirjoista talonkirjoihin. Selvitys laitos- ja avohoitopotilaiden asumisolosuhteista. Sosiaali- ja terveyshallitus, Raportteja 42/1991.
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2020-09-24
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Hyötyläinen, M. (2020). “Not for Normal People“: The Specialization of Social Rental Housing in Finland. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 19(2), 545–566. https://doi.org/10.14288/acme.v19i2.1772
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