Communal housing combines housing and social activities. The service might suit an elderly person who does not yet need 24-hour care but is no longer able to live in their home with the help of home delivery services or the support of their loved ones.
Communal housing is suitable for older people who want to live in a social environment and who benefit from it but who cannot cope in their own home even if they receive services that support living. The goal of communal living is to support the residents to live their own kind of life and to maintain the well-being, health and relationships of the residents. We support the residents to live as independently as possible.
We plan community activities together with the residents and take their needs and wishes into account. This can happen through, for example, exercise, music or quizzes. Communal activities are regular and coordinated by the unit’s personnel. The residents can also arrange joint activities themselves.
Many artists from different fields live here. The walls have paintings done by a resident, and our community has gotten to know each other quite well
Practical nurse in training Bella, who works in a communal housing unit, thinks that communal living enables the residents to live a supported but unique life. She thinks that at best, communality can lead to friendships between the residents.
In communal housing, the resident’s housing and services are arranged separately. Services are organised according to the individual needs of the residents as separate social services, regular care and support services.
A separate lease agreement will be signed for the apartment, and the customer decorates the apartment with their own furniture.
Resident Dessi explains how she has decorated her room beautifully and how the personality of the residents is reflected in the premises of the entire unit.
"Many artists from different fields live here. The walls have paintings done by a resident, and our community has gotten to know each other quite well. It is the people who make the place", Dessi says.
In Helsinki, communal housing for the elderly has started off on a small scale in the Töölö and Syystie Senior Centres. In the spring of 2024, Töölö Senior Centre opened Nostalgia unit with 10 places for communal living. Syystie Senior Centre has 24–30 places, and the centre will gradually become a unit meant entirely for communal living.
Individual communal housing residents have also been placed in different senior centres and service houses according to the hybrid model. This means that communal housing residents and residents of 24-hour care are living in the same unit and cared for by the same senior centre or service home staff.
