Siuntio reception centre to close in the spring

The Finnish Immigration Service will shut down the Siuntio reception centre, group home and support housing unit on 1 May 2014. The contract with the Finnish Red Cross, which maintains the centre, has been terminated with effect from 1 November 2013, although the six-month period of notice means that operations will continue until the end of April.

The Siuntio group home and support housing unit have 28 accommodation places for asylum seekers who are minors arriving in the country without a guardian. There is also a 20-bed reception centre in Siuntio for accommodating families with special needs, such as single mothers and their children.

The grounds for shutting down the centre are that the number of minor asylum seekers arriving in Finland without a guardian has been decreasing in recent years. As a result, the units for minor asylum seekers at reception centres are underused, with occupancy averaging only 55 %.

After the Siuntio centre is shut down, the remaining group homes and support housing units nationwide will have a total of 112 accommodation places available for minor asylum seekers.

Shutting down an entire unit makes economic sense

Because the units for minor asylum seekers are small in size, it makes economic sense to shut down one entire unit rather than reduce the number of accommodation places at several locations.

The 20-bed reception centre in Siuntio for adults and their families will also be shut down because centres with fewer than 60 accommodation places tend to incur above-average costs.

Adult reception centres also have free space

At the reception centres that accommodate adults and their families, the occupancy rate is currently 80%, equating to more than 500 free accommodation places.

In the past spring and summer, the Finnish Immigration Service eliminated 226 accommodation places from the reception system. Of these, 26 were at units for minor asylum seekers and 200 were at larger reception centres for adults and their families.

Variables monitored closely

The reception unit of the Finnish Immigration Service, which controls the reception of asylum seekers in Finland, closely monitors any variations in the numbers and profiles of applicants in Finland and other Nordic countries. Developments in the situation in the countries of origin of asylum seekers are also closely monitored, and consideration given to their effect on refugee flows and, ultimately, on Finland. Additional accommodation capacity can be provided quickly if necessary.

Preliminary statistics indicate that between January and September 2,417 persons applied for asylum in Finland, 8% more (180 persons) than in the corresponding period last year. In the light of these figures, the total number of applicants arriving this year is estimated at nearly 3,500 (2012: 3,129). The estimate is flexible because the number of applicants often varies, particularly in autumn.

Further information for the media

Veikko Pyykkönen, Senior Adviser, reception unit, tel. 071 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi