Finland has experienced a rapid increase in immigration since the beginning of the 1990s. Almost half of the foreign population is concentrated in the metropolitan area of the capital, Helsinki. The development and explanations of their settlement patterns have not yet been thoroughly studied. It is hypothesised in this study that social housing can explain the settlement patterns. Indices of dissimilarity were calculated to study the level and development of spatial segregation of immigrant groups in the Helsinki metropolitan area in 1995-99, and the association between the settlement patterns of immigrants and social housing was studied by regression analysis. Neighbourhood-level data were used. The results indicate that the Helsinki metropolitan area has avoided extreme ethnic segregation so far and that segregation is decreasing. Especially immigrants from poor countries are clearly associated with social housing in their settlement patterns, even after adjustment for socio-economic and demographic differentiation. Also new construction of social housing seems to have affected the spatial distribution of this group. Despite this dependence, the group is not extremely segregated, which is probably because the social housing sector is not totally marginalised.

segregation Helsinki Social housing Immigration Finland

social housing Finland urban society settlement pattern immigrant population