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Friday, February 1st, 2019

How Finland Solved Homelessness

Author:     Laura Paddison
Source:     Huffington Post
Publication Date:     01/30/2019 05:45 am ET
Link: How Finland Solved Homelessness
Stephan:   Social values create society. This is what a society based on social wellbeing does; why can't America do this? And please don't tell me we can't afford it, the usual conservative crap response. This is not about money it is about values. The Theorem of Wellbeing is very clear. Policies based on wellbeing are always easier to implement, more productive, more efficient, nicer to live under, longer lasting, and much, much cheaper.

Finland home for the homeless
Credit: Vilkja Pursianinen/y-Foundation

Four years ago, Thomas Salmi was drinking to forget. He was homeless and living on the streets of Finland’s capital city Helsinki.

He had a rough start in life. He wasn’t able to live at home because his father had problems with aggression. He ended up going to nine different children’s homes, before falling through the cracks of the system in his late teens. By 21 he was homeless. “I lost the sense of a normal life. I became depressed, aggressive, angry and I abused alcohol a lot.” He would drink up to half a gallon a day and then get into trouble. “I thought why would I care if I go to jail? I don’t have to be out there in snow and cold.”

Salmi was sleeping in Helsinki train station when a social worker found him and told him he could help. He was put […]

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