Migration and residential segregation are intrinsically linked. However, little attention has been given to internal migration and its relationship with socioeconomic segregation. In this study, we illustrate the pathways individuals take between rural and urban settings and examine the association between these pathways and segregation in the Helsinki region. We use register data from Statistics Finland and sequence analysis to illustrate the mobility patterns of two 1980s birth cohorts aged 7 to 37. The majority of Finnish rural-urban pathways are associated with either a childhood spent in an urban area or a move to an urban area in young adulthood. We show that an even larger majority of people living in Helsinki at age 37 spent their childhood there or in other urban environments. We find that internal migrants are positively selected for education and income. A childhood in the outer urban regions of a city reduces the probability of living in lowincome neighbourhoods when controlling for socioeconomic status and family structure. We found no association between rural childhood and living in poor neighbourhoods.
The article analyses how housing affordability is defined in Finnish housing policy. The data consists of laws, policy documents and expert interviews. Three theoretical approaches are identified: normative definitions, consumer choice and definition by housing tenure. Normative definitions that consider affordability as an intersection of household income, housing costs and housing standards are acknowledged, but not treated as policy objectives. Nevertheless, housing allowances are a practical implementation of this approach. The main aim of housing policy – increasing housing supply to support a balanced market – implies that the housing question is to be solved primarily by the market and, consequently, affordability is defined by consumer choice. Social rental housing is often explicitly referred to as “affordable”. However, limiting the question to one tenure is problematic. The article recommends adopting a normative definition as well as better coordination of housing policy, which is now divided between different ministries.
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