After decades of steadily declining figures, Finland's homelessness rate has started to tick upwards again in recent years due to rising poverty. The number of people considered homeless in Finland is increasing. File photo. Image: Timo Valtteri Sihvonen / YleRonan BrowneHelsingin Sanomat's most-read article on Monday morning highlights the growing homelessness problem in the Helsinki region. HS notes that Finland is often held up internationally as a model country that has "solved" homelessness. This impression has much to do with the success of the Housing First initiative, which is built around the core principle that a person must have a home before they can tackle any other problems in their lives, such as addiction. However, the number of homeless people in Finland has started ticking upwards again since 2024 as changes to social security benefits and rising poverty levels are driving people out of their homes. HS cites the example of Aliisa and her adult daughter Julia (not their real names), who gradually fell behind with their rent payments due to their financial problems and the rising cost of living."We had to choose between rent or medicine and food," Aliisa says. They were evicted from their home in February this year, with HS noting that the number of such evictions are growing across Finland. Young men tend to be evicted the most, the paper adds, but housing services in Helsinki report that more and more families with children as well as single parents of small children regularly face the threat of eviction. In addition, social workers in the capital note that certain groups are particularly vulnerable to eviction, such as victims of domestic violence as well as immigrants who find it hard to navigate the Finnish system's bureaucratic "jungle". After two months of uncertainty and moving between temporary accommodations, Aliisa and Julia did finally find a more permanent home via an acquaintance, a person who had also experienced homelessness."People like that help, who are struggling themselves," Aliisa says. When can you retire?Meanwhile, the most-read article on tabloid Iltalehti's site on Monday delves into the debate around Finland's under-pressure pension system. The question on many people's minds these days is: When will I be able to afford to retire?Using data from the Finnish Centre for Pensions, IL provides a handy table for readers to see how much occupational pension, on average, they will have accumulated based on their age. For example, a 40-year-old would have accumulated an average monthly occupational pension of 680 euros by the end of 2024, while the equivalent figure for 60-year-olds is 1,749 euros. The figures take into account the effect of the life expectancy coefficient, IL explains, which aims to limit the growth of pension costs resulting from increased life expectancy and delayed retirements. This also means, according to Sampo Lappo of the Finnish Centre for Pensions, that if, in the future, we live on average longer than currently anticipated, the life expectancy coefficient will cut pensions even more — making that retirement date seem ever more distant for many people. A survey recently published by the Finnish Centre for Pensions revealed that an increasing number of young adults in Finland are saving money for retirement, partly due to concerns about whether the pension system will provide a sufficient income in the future. Yle News' All Points North podcast put audience questions to pension experts. You can listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Will you get a pension?Finland's best brewIlta-Sanomat recently asked its readers to pick their favourite beer from a list of 27 options that are usually found on the shelves of Finnish grocery stores and supermarkets. The options were limited to familiar pale lagers with a maximum of 5 percent alcohol content, meaning stronger ales as well as other specialty beers were excluded from the list. Nevertheless, the tabloid's call-out received quite a response from what it describes as a "beer-loving nation" — with over 24,000 people voting for the favourite brew. And there was a clear winner, IS reveals, with the "golden and medium-bodied" Sandels 4.7% garnering over 35 percent of the votes. A distant second in the list was Karhu, with 11 percent share of the vote, while A. Le Coq Premium finished in third place, on about 6 percent. Sandels beer is made by the Finnish brewery Olvi in Iisalmi. File photo. Image: Toni Pitkänen / Yle