Finland to close down 8 refugee centres

The Finnish Immigration Service decided to close down eight refugee reception centres with accommodation capacity of 1520 people by the end of this year, said Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) in a press release on Thursday.

The Migri will also reduce the number of beds by 200 in one reception centre due to the decrease of demand.

The Kyyhkylä reception centre with 200 accommodation, Forssa reception centre with 170 capacity, Iisalmi reception centre with 200 capacity, Rovaniemi reception centre, with 150 capacity, Kuusamo reception centre (apartment-based) with 150 capacity and Sipoo reception centre with 300 capacity were earmarked to close down by end of September while the Jyväskylä reception centre with 150 capacity and Ruukki reception centre with 200 capacity will be closed by end of December.

Meanwhile, the accommodation capacity of the Kuusankoski reception centre will be reduced by 200 from the existing 400 by July 14.

“The reception centres whose contracts are now terminated will be closed down, the need for reception capacity has reduced further and the available accommodation capacity is sufficient,” said Heikki Väätämöinen, Head of Section of the Reception Unit.

About 46,000 people are currently registered as clients in the reception system and about 37 per cent of them live in private accommodation and 13 per cent live in municipalities as part of the municipal model for accommodation.

The majority of the clients registered in the system have fled from Ukraine.

After the reception centres have been closed down, there will be 113 reception centres, their secondary branches and service points for clients in private accommodation, as well as 10 reception units for minors in Finland.

The Finnish Immigration Service put out to tender reception centre operations both in the autumn of 2022 and in the spring of 2023. As a result of the competitive tendering this spring, 17 new reception centres were procured.