Pellas shelter move could double capacity in Espoo

Espoo’s Pellas shelter could double its capacity next year if negotiations to move to larger premises succeed, Yle reports. The shelter has been looking for a new location in the city since 2021.

Pellas currently has seven places for families and aims to add seven more. Karola Grönlund, executive director of the Pääkaupungin turvakoti ry shelter association, said the organisation had identified suitable premises, but negotiations were still under way.

A change to the zoning plan may be needed before a lease can be signed. The association is discussing the matter with the potential landlord and Espoo city officials. Grönlund said the hope was to open the larger premises in the second half of next year.

Finding suitable premises has been difficult because each family room needs its own bathroom. Only one of Pellas’s current family rooms has a private toilet. Grönlund said creating hotel-like conditions would require costly construction, which many landlords were unwilling to undertake.

Espoo will not get an entirely new shelter next year, said Suvi Nipuli, who oversees shelter services at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. Additional places in Espoo can be provided only if the association applies to expand Pellas, she said.

A call for an organisation to provide shelter services in Central Uusimaa is due to open early next year. The region currently has no shelters.

Pellas turned away 376 people last year because it was full, the highest number for any shelter in Finland. By the end of September this year, it had turned away 190 people for lack of space.

Nipuli acknowledged that Espoo has too few shelter places for its population. Pellas was full on 249 days last year and had an occupancy rate of 94 percent. Finland has 243 shelter places, and the institute aims to increase the total to 262. The government plans to add 2.7 million euros to shelter funding next year, which Nipuli said would provide just under 20 new places.