Vaasa to launch flatmate-finding app to ease student housing shortage

A new mobile app called KämppisFinder will launch in Vaasa this summer to help students find flatmates and shared housing, as the city grapples with a severe shortage of affordable rental apartments.

The app, already piloted in Kuopio, allows users to create profiles, set criteria such as pet policies, smoking preferences, or budget limits, and connect with potential flatmates via chat. It also enables landlords to list properties suitable for shared living, though this service carries a fee for property owners.

Vaasa’s housing shortage has left hundreds of students on waiting lists for student housing, with competition so fierce that some secure apartments before even confirming their study placements. The city’s population growth and economic expansion have further tightened the market, according to Jonas Nylén, Vaasa’s housing director, who called the app a promising tool to address the crisis.

Mimmi Eskelä, responsible for urban policy at the Vaasa University Student Union, expects shared living to increase as students’ housing allowances have shifted from general housing support to a study-based supplement, reducing available funds. The app’s developers, Eeli Hautakangas and Samu Vesiluoma, describe it as a “flatmate Tinder” and plan to expand it to other university cities, including Turku, Tampere, and Oulu.

Local authorities, the student union, and the university of applied sciences will promote the app in Vaasa to encourage adoption among students and landlords.