We will improve the status of people living alone
There are about 1.3 million people who live alone in Finland, and the share of one-person households is over 40 percent. People who live alone are a diverse group of people whose situations in life differ greatly. One-person households also have common aspects that should be paid attention to on the national level. There are social risk factors in living in a one-person household that have become highlighted during the COVID-19 crisis. For example, the risk of social exclusion and poverty is higher for people who live alone than for those who live in bigger households, and this should be recognized in services. About 70% of those who get social assistance live alone.
The availability of services for and the inclusion of people who live alone must be safeguarded. Awareness of the various situations in life of people who live alone among health and social services personnel must be increased. For example, a person-in-charge system could be set up in wellbeing services counties to serve people living alone, in particular.
A cross-administrative programme will be established to look at the situation of people who live alone and create an operational programme to improve their situation in Finland. The programme should address, for example, questions of equality, including subsistence problems and the risk of social exclusion. The programme should map housing-related challenges of people living alone and means of avoiding involuntary loneliness as well as present methods to solve them.