This is the translation of an opinion piece published in Aamulehti on 2 April 2026.
The Aamulehti column Nähdäänkö tänä kesänä joukkopako vuokra-asunnoista? (”Will we see a mass escape from rental housing this summer?”) by University correspondent Iina Thomsson describes the summer rental housing market as exceptional from the students’ point of view. In the column, Thomsson considers how the move back to the student housing supplement will affect landlords and the housing situation in cities (AL 19.3.). The column itself is good and opens many good topics for discussion as it ponders who is going to move back to their parents, and who will sublet their apartment during an internship out of town.
In reality, many cannot afford a choice in the matter. Students are in a tight spot when it comes to social assistance and general housing allowance. When applying for social assistance, a student is first obliged to withdraw their student loan for the entire previous semester (€4,250 in the spring semester) before other benefits are even considered.
In the upcoming summer, therefore, students are facing a situation where they may not have any income at all. Summer studies are not available for all degrees, which means that it may be impossible to receive student financial aid in the summer. On top of that, these changes will take place at a time when the employment situation of young people is historically poor. In practice, the options for students who can’t find work are either going into debt or homelessness.
This situation is not a market phenomenon, but a direct result of national political decision-making. The lack of income during the summer months is not caused by an individual’s choices. It is a value choice made by the Finnish Government. If there is no income, you cannot pay rent. And if rent is not paid, you end up being one of the growing number of people with bad credit records who, when losing their home, face difficulties getting one later. Tampere has a highly functional emergency housing system, but it should not be patching up government policy. The city cannot and should not act as a backup system for national social security.
The flexibility of landlords during summertime is key for many students. Genuine concern and a desire to help arise when speaking with landlords. Before ending up with arrears of rent and other payment problems, a student in a tight spot should contact their landlord. A plan for rent payments for the summer can be negotiated and agreed upon together.
What happens to students also affects Finns more broadly. The approximately 32,000 higher education students in Tampere are a significant factor for the vitality of the Tampere region now and in the future. If the housing support system is not changed to consider the true costs of living all year round, there is a risk that instead of settling in Tampere, those applying for a study place will end up in cities with lower housing costs.
Changes in housing benefits also lead to an increasing number of students having to terminate their lease for the summer. In autumn the pressure to find affordable housing will increase even more than it already does, as the students returning after living elsewhere for the summer must find a home again along with all the new students arriving. At worst, this will put a strain on the city’s emergency housing services, which are already stretched thin during the start of the academic year.
One would think that students’ right to housing would be considered a fundamental right, not just some seasonal benefit. If we want to ensure lively student cities, let alone healthy students, the support system must change so that no one needs to worry if there is still a home to return to after the summer.
Saara Ahola, Chair, Students’ Union of Tampere University of Applied Sciences (Tamko)
Tami Nordström, Chair, Student Union of Tampere University (TREY)