Finland tried to end homelessness. What can we learn from its runaway success – and recent failures?

The Housing First policy led to the number of homeless people in Finland dropping by half. Those with firsthand experience explain why it worked At 3.30am, Vello Senkel awoke to a knock on his door. Standing on his doorstep were his neighbours with an urgent request: “Do you have salt? We want to boil macaroni.” He acquiesced, but it turned out that salt wasn’t the only ingredient they were missing: “And do you also have macaroni?” His warm face, framed by jaw-length white hair, is at once ch...

By Miranda Bryant in Helsinki