A record number of Ukrainians are looking for a place to live in Riihimäki - Most want to get a job and get an education

Of all Finnish municipalities, Riihimäki is one of the municipalities that received the most civilians who fled the war in Ukraine. About 650 Ukrainians and more than 200 families are currently staying in Riihimäki. According to the survey, Riihimäki's active integration process has yielded results, as the majority of families plan to apply for a home municipality in Riihimäki.

Based on a survey conducted by the city of Riihimäki, as many as 159 families plan to apply for a home municipality in Riihimäki. 83 percent of the Ukrainians who responded to the survey plan to look for a job in Finland and 41 percent want to train for a new profession. The interest of so many families speaks of the city's successful integration efforts.

"The city's employment services already organized support for Ukrainians in their job search last year. Classes preparing for basic education have also been set up on a fast schedule after the children arrived in the city. The city has increased the teaching of the Finnish language and helped organize apartments in cooperation with the city's rental house company Kotikulma," lists Juha Hiltunen, immigration coordinator of the city of Riihimäki.

The city of Riihimäki has invested in making Ukrainians feel welcome in their new hometown. At the beginning of the year, a Welcome to Riksuu event was organized for them and the mayor sent a letter to all residents of the reception center. Introductory information about Riihimäki has been produced in Ukrainian, and another welcome event will be organized in March, where new townspeople will be helped with practical matters.

A successful integration process is an investment in the future

A large number of new city dwellers causes challenges in terms of housing and jobs. It has also been difficult to find activity supervisors and teachers with language skills. Despite the challenges, successful integration is seen as an investment in the future.

"By committing to a practical and knowledge-based integration process, we believe we will achieve positive effects in the long term. It is important to identify and prevent problems related to integration, such as exclusion in the early stages. In our opinion, we have succeeded well in this," says city manager Jouni Eho.

All in all, the purpose is to enable good integration of new families in Riihimäki and in Finland in general.

"The target population growth rate for Riihimäki is 0,2 percent per year, which is quickly exceeded with new families. The goal is to get more employees and taxpayers to Riihimäki. This requires cooperation on a broad front. I believe that we can set a positive example for other cities as well", concludes Eho.