Residents for Heka rental apartments are selected based on their need for housing and the search criteria, not a queueing system. The resident selection principles are based in Finnish law. The selection criteria include need for housing, wealth and income.
Priority is given to the homeless and other applicants of limited means and low income who have the most urgent situation. When selecting residents, we also pay attention to maintaining a varied resident structure in the building and a healthy social balance in the residential area. You can view the resident selection by urgency level in the monthly statistics (pdf in Finnish) and the urgency levels (pdf).
Urgency levels in Heka rental apartments
Our application system defines your application’s urgency level based on the information you have provided. You can view your urgency level in the e-services folder once you have submitted your application. Unless your need for housing is extremely urgent, your chances of getting an apartment are unfortunately very low. At present, 80 per cent of those who have received an apartment have had an extremely urgent need.
E.g.
- Homeless individuals or people living with relatives or friends
- Employees working in Helsinki with no home in Helsinki
- Renters with a terminated lease agreement
- Applicant has a necessary and permanent need for an barrier free housing and their current home is not barrier free
For example,
- Applicants whose fixed-term contract is coming to an end and it cannot be renewed
- Applicants who are in the middle of a divorce or separation
- Current apartment is too small (more than 1 person per room)
- Heka residents who live in an apartment that is too large for them
- Excessive housing costs, meaning more than 40 per cent of a household’s gross income is currently being spent on housing (as defined in EU statistics on income and living conditions)
- Adults still living with their parents
All applicants who do not belong to urgency levels 1 or 2, e.g.:
-
Desire to move is due to the current apartment’s equipment level, location, etc.
Wealth limits in Heka rental apartments
Wealth limits are applied to resident selections. If your assets exceed the valid limits, we cannot offer you housing.
| Number of people |
Wealth limit 1 January – 31 December 2024 |
|---|---|
| 1 | EUR 93,000 |
| 2 | EUR 133,000 |
| 3 | EUR 216,000 |
| 4 | EUR 221,000 |
| 5 | EUR 226,000 |
Assets the applicant has disposed of, sold or donated during the year preceding the application will be included when calculating the applicant’s wealth. Earned income is not counted as wealth.
Wealth refers to, for example, housing company shares, property, funds, securities and other assets. When defining wealth, the household’s liabilities on the assets, such as the remaining mortgage, are considered.
If the applicant is relocating to the Helsinki Metropolitan Area from another part of Finland for work, owner-occupied housing will not be counted as wealth, if the housing is located more than 80 km away from Helsinki and the applicant currently resides in that home. Housing owned by the applicant as an investment is always counted when assessing wealth.
Income information when applying for a Heka rental apartment
All the applicants will need to add their monthly gross income to the housing application. One of the tenant selection criteria is applicants’ monthly income.
Gross income represents the total income from all sources, including returns, discounts, and allowances, before deducting any expenses or taxes.
Monthly gross income includes your monthly earnings as well as any capital income. Capital income, such as rental income or income from shares, can be found in your tax statement.
If your earnings vary monthly, calculate your monthly income based on your annual income.
The following are regarded as income:
- Salary
- Bonus, overtime compensation etc.
- Pension
- Income from abroad
- Rental, interest and dividend income
- Spousal support
- Adult study grant and education support
- Tax value of benefits in kind
- Unemployment allowance
- Labor market support
The following subsidies are not regarded as income:
- Housing allowance
- Subsistence subsidy
- Student financial aid (unlike study grant for mature students which is regarded as income)
- Day care allowance, spouse supplement or child increase
- A child increment or orphan's pension in accordance with the National Pension Insurance Act, employment pension paid as orphan's pension, orphan's pension in accordance with the legislation regarding the Employment Accident Insurance Act and Motor Insurance Act or other statutory orphan's pension or a corresponding benefit paid from abroad
- Alimony or maintenance support
- Family allowance
- Disability allowance
- Front-veteran's pension, front-veteran's supplement
- Indemnities according to the Military Injuries Act
- Accommodation allowance in accordance with the Act on the Public Employment Service or other corresponding accommodation allowance
- Clearly temporary income, such as the conscript's daily allowance, conscript's allowance, or the holidaytime income of children younger than 18 years of age are not regarded as income.