Making Home in Helsinki: Indian Skilled Migrants and Housing

How have Indian skilled migrants settled in the Finnish built environment? This paper discusses the issue by analysing the housing experiences of Indian skilled migrants living in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland. The study’s background is in urban geography and housing studies, and it employs both structuralist and humanistic views in order to tackle this multifaceted research problem.

Immigration to Finland is a relatively new phenomenon. As a receiving country, Finland offers rather homogeneous housing alternatives. Furthermore, India and Finland differ greatly in climate and culture. What are the home-making practices of Indian migrants in this challenging environment? How do they choose their dwellings and what are the important aspects of housing for them? Do they feel at home in their neighbourhoods and in relation to native population? How do they construct their social life in the frame of the build environment?

The data consists of semi-structured interviews with Indian skilled migrants who have migrated to Finland to work. All of the interviewees were highly educated and worked in knowledge-intensive positions in research and business fields. The results of this study offer insight to the home-making practices of this migrant group and can be utilized in shaping the housing policy of the diversifying country.