No love for the exchange students

17.04.2009

The exchange students in Helsinki are not happy with the foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region, (HOAS). They feel that they are being treated with less respect than the Finnish students and over 200 of them have joined the Facebook group "I am a victim of Hoas". The foundation dismisses part of the criticism, and so far it's pretty much their word against the word of the students.

No love for the exchange students

text jonny smeds

It's not the first time this has been an issue. Already in 1990 Studentbladet wrote about exchange students being unhappy with their living conditions in Junailijankuja in Pasila. Later that year the house was renovated and the living conditions improved. Now the exchange students are upset again, but this time they're not primarily concerned with the standard of housing. Now, they say, Hoas is exploiting their vulnerable situation as foreigners. - I decided to come to Finland, because I had read that you welcome exchange students and take good care of them. Now I just feel discriminated against, and it's because of Hoas, says DIANA CAR, an exchange student from Croatia. Her sentiments are widely shared among foreign students. Of the more than 220 members of the Facebook group "I am a victim of Hoas" nearly all are from abroad.

When Studentbladet contacted foreign students at Helsinki University to ask how they feel about Hoas the response was plentiful. In the e-mails we received, many wrote how very upset they were, and everyone had had issues with the foundation.
One student, who prefers to remain anonymous, had a very unpleasant start to his stay in Finland. - I was literally left on the streets when arriving in Finland in the winter, because Hoas gave me the wrong address information and I couldn't get access to my apartment. It wasn't easy to find a hotel room so it all ended with me having to share room, he writes.
The same person came home one day to find that his room had been painted without notice or warning. - All my things were lying in a pile on the floor, including a picture of my girlfriend, which was was scratched, and apparently had been stepped on. Because of the smell of paint I had to sleep on the kitchen floor that night. Hoas never apologized for any of this.

Most of the criticism sent to Studentbladet sounds familiar to flatmates Diana Car and MARIA PROISTAKI. They live in Junailijankuja 5 A. A recurring theme in the complaints of exchange students is the Hoas Contact Center in Kamppi. - The people at the desk never have any answers to your questions. All they do is give you a form and make you sign things. Everything else has to be done by e-mail, says Maria Proistaki. - It's like talking to a wall. It's mostly foreign students who have these kinds of problems with Hoas. Finnish people are treated much better, claims Diana Car.

At Hoas the criticism is met with some scepticism. Helsingin Sanomat wrote about the unhappy exchange students in the beginning of March, and since then Hoas has been sorting out why the exchange students are so upset. Director of Hoas, HEIKKI VALKJÄRVI claims most of the problems have been due to misunderstandings. - For instance: one student complained that her bed was broken, but we never got a fault report about that, says director Valkjärvi. He goes on to add that Hoas has a phone- and email-service specifically for exchange students.
At the end of March, the Head of Customer Services ANNA LASSUS had a discussion with some exchange students regarding the problems at Junailijankuja 5. She thinks both parties would benefit from a look in the mirror. - There have been misunderstandings, but most of them are sorted out now, she adds.

Many students accuse Hoas of systematically keeping part of the deposit fee, even when there's no reason for it. - We've heard that after we move out Hoas will tell us the apartment needs repairs or cleaning, but at that point we'll be unable to prove otherwise and in no situation to contest their assessment, Maria Proistaki and Diana Car say.
- This is a very serious allegation, replies Heikki Valkj‰rvi, and adds that the matter is under investigation.

Maria Proistaki has seen for herself that Hoas doesn't inspect the state of the apartments when someone moves out. - When I moved in the kitchen was really dirty. If someone from Hoas had visited the apartment, they would have noticed this. However I decided not to report it because I didn't want the previous tenants to have to pay a big fee. Instead I cleaned it myself, she tells us.

Another major complaint concerns the private security company Securitas. Hoas has a contract with them for the supervision of, among others, the house in Junailijankuja 5. Supervision, in this case, means enforcing the peace. If there's too much noise from an apartment, a security guard has the authority to issue a fine of 300 euros. Neither Valkj‰rvi nor Lassus wants to take a stand on whether or not this is a fair amount. Lassus does, however, feel inclined to point out that "the fine is divided among the six residents so it's really only 50 euros per person".
She admits the possibility of residents who haven't been in the apartment at the time sharing the fine. In order to escape paying it, the tenant has to prove having been absent, for instance by a plane or train ticket. A letter of confirmation written by a person's flatmates is in itself considered insufficient evidence, says the Head of Customer Services.

Security guards entering student apartments may in fact be illegal, according to the Ministry of the Interior. If the contract with Securitas would be terminated because of legality issues, it wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened. Studentbladet has previously reported on a trial privatization of student housing security in Turku. In that case the contract was terminated precisely because of the security company's overstepping its legal bounds.

- The exchange students have practically no possibility to make a choice about their apartment in Finland. They have to trust the information they're able to get.
The University recommends Hoas, so we trust that it's going to work well. We can't really check out the apartments before signing the contracts. We can still accept an apartment that isn't in perfect condition, but then we have to at least be treated with some respect, says Maria Proistaki.

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