Finland Kela General Housing Allowance (Yleinen Asumistuki)
Finland’s General Housing Allowance (yleinen asumistuki) is a monthly, means-tested Kela benefit for households with low income that live in rented, right-of-occupancy, or part-ownership housing in Finland.
Finland Kela General Housing Allowance (Yleinen Asumistuki)
Finland’s General Housing Allowance, or yleinen asumistuki, is a continuing social-security benefit administered by Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland. It helps a household with limited income meet recognised housing costs. This is not a competition with a fixed annual budget and it is not a one-time grant. There is no single yearly closing date: eligible households can apply when their circumstances require support, and Kela normally grants the benefit from the first day of a month. The correct deadline value for this page is therefore rolling.
The current official Kela guidance is important because several older descriptions of this benefit are now misleading. General housing allowance is not available for a home that the household owns and lives in. The normal maximum outside the Åland Islands is 70% of acceptable housing costs after a basic deductible, not 80%. Most students use the student housing supplement rather than general housing allowance. Household assets can also affect the calculation, but they do not create a simple single-person eligibility ceiling of the kind sometimes repeated in older summaries.
Quick facts
| Detail | Current information |
|---|---|
| Benefit | General Housing Allowance (yleinen asumistuki) |
| Administrator | Kela – Social Insurance Institution of Finland |
| Who applies | One person applying for a household, or a person applying alone |
| Timing | Rolling; there is no annual application deadline |
| Maximum outside Åland | 70% of acceptable housing costs after the basic deductible |
| Housing covered | Rental, right-of-occupancy, and part-ownership homes |
| Housing excluded | Owner-occupied homes, including an owned apartment or single-family home |
| Helsinki maximum recognised costs | EUR 563/month for one person; EUR 808 for two; EUR 1,019 for three; EUR 1,188 for four |
| Other high-cost municipalities | EUR 447/month for one person in the municipality group containing cities such as Tampere and Turku |
| Other municipalities | EUR 394/month for one person, with higher limits for larger households |
| Minimum payment | A calculated allowance below EUR 15/month is not paid |
| Application channel | OmaKela in Finnish or Swedish, or the AT 1e paper form |
| Official source | Kela: General housing allowance |
The amounts in the table are recognised housing-cost limits, not guaranteed payments. The actual allowance depends on income, household size, assets, the type of housing, and the municipality. A household paying more than the recognised maximum can still apply, but Kela will calculate the benefit using the applicable maximum rather than the full rent.
Who can receive the benefit?
Kela grants general housing allowance to a household as a unit. A household may be one person or several people who live permanently in the same home. A married couple, cohabiting couple, family, or other people who meet Kela’s household rules can be assessed together. The number of adults and children affects both the income limit and the amount of housing costs that can be recognised.
The home must be in Finland and must be one of the housing types covered by the benefit. A rented apartment or house qualifies if there is a written rental agreement. A right-of-occupancy home can qualify based on its residence charge. A part-ownership home can qualify based on its rent, provided the applicant has a written rental agreement. General housing allowance is not available for an owner-occupied apartment or single-family home, and housing-loan interest is not a recognised cost for the covered right-of-occupancy or part-ownership arrangements described by Kela.
Residence status is assessed under Kela’s normal rules rather than by citizenship alone. A person who has moved to Finland may have a right to benefits when Kela considers the move and residence to be permanent. People who moved to Finland to work may have a possible entitlement under the rules for EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens. A person arriving from abroad should report the move through OmaKela or the relevant Kela notification if Kela has not yet checked the household’s right to Finnish benefits. A visitor or temporary resident should not assume that a Finnish rental agreement by itself creates entitlement.
Students need to check the benefit type carefully. As a rule, students cannot receive general housing allowance because the student housing supplement is the normal housing benefit for them. Kela lists exceptions, including a student who lives with their own child or their partner’s child, receives another qualifying benefit instead of student financial aid, has suspended studies or used all available student-financial-aid months, or has had student financial aid stopped because of insufficient study progress. Students who come to Finland cannot simply be added to another household for general housing allowance; Kela’s household and residence rules apply.
How Kela calculates the amount
Outside the Åland Islands, the basic calculation is:
General housing allowance = 0.7 × (acceptable housing costs − basic deductible)
The basic deductible is based on the household’s gross monthly income and the number of adults and children. If the household has very little income, the deductible can be zero. As income rises, the deductible rises and the allowance falls. The calculation is not a promise that 70% of the entire rent will be reimbursed. First, Kela identifies which costs are acceptable; then it applies the municipality’s maximum; then it subtracts the basic deductible.
The current Kela page gives these maximum recognised housing costs for the main municipality groups:
| Household | Espoo, Helsinki, Kauniainen, Vantaa | Listed higher-cost municipalities, including Tampere and Turku | Other municipalities |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 person | EUR 563 | EUR 447 | EUR 394 |
| 2 people | EUR 808 | EUR 652 | EUR 574 |
| 3 people | EUR 1,019 | EUR 828 | EUR 734 |
| 4 people | EUR 1,188 | EUR 981 | EUR 875 |
| Each person above four | +EUR 148 | +EUR 134 | +EUR 129 |
For example, a single person in Helsinki paying EUR 800 in rent is assessed against a maximum recognised housing cost of EUR 563, not EUR 800. A single person in Turku or Tampere is assessed against the relevant EUR 447 maximum shown by Kela. These are ceilings for the housing-cost part of the calculation; the person’s income and basic deductible still determine the payment.
Åland has a separate calculation. Kela states that the allowance there can cover up to 80% of acceptable housing costs after the basic deductible. The one-person maximum recognised housing cost in the Åland municipalities is EUR 470, with different amounts for larger households. Applicants in Åland should use Kela’s calculator or ask Kela to apply the Åland rules rather than using the mainland formula.
What housing costs count?
For a rented home, Kela can recognise rent plus water and heating charges that are paid separately. Water charges are accepted up to EUR 20 per person per month. Standard separately paid heating costs are accepted up to EUR 46 per month for a one-person household, with EUR 16 added for each additional person. Kela lists higher heating-cost amounts for some regions, including Etelä-Savo, Pohjois-Savo, Pohjois-Karjala, Pohjois-Pohjanmaa, Kainuu, and Lapland.
For a right-of-occupancy home, the relevant housing cost is the residence charge, plus separately paid water and heating charges. For a part-ownership home, Kela can recognise rent plus separately paid water and heating charges. The applicant must pay the cost, or a household member must pay it; a cost paid by an employer or another company is not included. If a subtenant pays part of the rent, that subtenant’s payment is deducted from the housing costs used for the main household’s calculation.
Several common bills do not qualify as separate housing costs. Kela excludes electricity, sauna, laundry-room charges, parking, internet access, and furniture. If electricity is bundled into rent, Kela deducts the electricity portion before calculating the recognised rent. A rental security deposit is not part of the housing allowance calculation. If the applicant cannot cover a deposit because of insufficient income and assets, Kela says that social assistance may be a separate route to ask about.
Income and assets
Kela considers the whole household’s gross income. This can include wages, self-employment income, capital income, and several Kela benefits such as unemployment benefits, sickness and rehabilitation benefits, study grant, parental benefits, and pensions. Kela may treat income as continuous when it is expected to stay the same for at least three months. If income changes, Kela can calculate an average over the relevant period. The date money is paid is not necessarily the same as the period for which Kela counts it.
The current asset rules are different from a simple “asset limit means automatic rejection” description. Assets affect the allowance when a one-adult household has more than EUR 10,000 in assets, or when a household with two or more adults has more than EUR 20,000 in total assets. Kela then counts 20% of the excess as income. If household assets reach EUR 50,000 or more, no general housing allowance is paid, after taking long-term debts such as housing and student loans into account.
Assets that can matter include bank deposits, real estate other than a holiday home in the household’s own use, housing-company shares, listed shares, investment-fund shares, business or farming assets, forest holdings, bonds, and insurance savings. Kela says that a EUR 2,000 disposable-income deduction is made from each household member’s deposits. Assets such as deposits in an ASP home-saver account, shares in an undivided estate, and assets not available to the household are treated differently and may not be counted. Applicants should disclose the requested details instead of trying to decide from a general savings rule that an asset is irrelevant.
The official income examples illustrate why a calculator is safer than a rough percentage. For a one-adult household, the monthly gross-income limit is EUR 1,844 in Espoo, Helsinki, Kauniainen, and Vantaa; EUR 1,612 in the listed higher-cost municipalities; and EUR 1,506 in other municipalities. The limits are higher for households with children or additional adults. If gross income is above the applicable limit, no general housing allowance is available. Kela’s income and assets guidance contains the full household tables and the calculator link.
How to apply
Check the benefit type and estimate the amount. Use Kela’s general housing allowance calculator. Enter every household member, the municipality, housing type, gross income, and relevant assets. Students should first check whether the student housing supplement applies.
Apply in OmaKela when possible. Kela’s online service is available in Finnish and Swedish. Choose the general housing allowance application, describe the household and home, give gross income and asset information, and submit the application. Kela can obtain wage and salary information from the Incomes Register, but it can still ask for clarification or other evidence.
Attach the documents Kela requests. Send a signed rental agreement if Kela does not receive the agreement details directly from the landlord. A private-landlord agreement must always be supplied. Include household-representation authorisation when roommates belong to the same household and one person applies for everyone. A person applying for the first time after moving to Finland may need to submit the notification about moving to Finland or employment in Finland so Kela can check entitlement.
Use the paper route if OmaKela is unavailable. Complete the Application – General housing allowance AT 1e form, save it to the device before filling it in, print and sign it, and post it with the supporting documents to Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA. The form is available from Kela’s forms service. Kela may request more information after receiving the application.
Apply at the right time. Housing allowance is granted from the first day of a month. If a rental agreement starts in the middle of a month, the benefit normally starts from the first day of the following month. Kela can grant the benefit retroactively for up to one month from the month of application, so an applicant should not wait for an artificial yearly deadline.
After approval
The household must report changes that can affect the decision. Kela asks applicants to report a gross-income increase of at least EUR 400 per month or a decrease of at least EUR 200 per month. Report a move, a change in rent or residence charge of EUR 50 or more per month, a change in household members, marriage, a new subtenant, or a sublease ending. A person living alone must also report being away from the home for three months or more.
Kela reviews housing allowance at least every 12 months, even when the household’s circumstances have not changed. Kela sends instructions about the annual review through OmaKela roughly two months before the review date. The household must return the requested information on time or Kela may stop the payment. The allowance is tax-free and is normally paid to the household’s bank account or, with consent or in certain rent-arrears situations, directly to the landlord.
This page describes a live, rolling benefit rather than a closed funding round. Before applying, use Kela’s official General housing allowance page and calculator to confirm the current municipality table, household rules, and documents for the applicant’s own situation. Kela’s decision is authoritative for entitlement and amount.