Housing assistance for conscripts
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You can get housing assistance for conscripts for an apartment rented on a permanent basis, for a right-of-occupancy home, for an owner-occupied home or for a partial-ownership home.
Kela will cover your housing costs if they fall due during service or during the last calendar month of service. If you and your partner are cohabiting but you are not married, you only get housing assistance for your share of the housing costs.
When can you be granted conscript’s allowance?
What does the housing assistance cover?
Housing costs for which you can get housing assistance include
- rent
- maintenance charge or residence charge
- water and heating charges that are paid separately
- electricity and gas bills
- interest on housing loan, including interest on loans taken out to pay the right-of-occupancy fee
- maintenance costs for a single-family detached house.
When can you get housing allowance for a rented home?
You can get housing assistance from Kela for a rented home if you have lived in rented housing on a permanent basis for at least 3 months before entering service. In such a situation, you can move before entering service or while you are in service, as you have already lived independently before entering service.
Kela can cover your housing costs also if you have lived in rented housing for under 3 months if you had a legitimate reason to rent your new home.
What does the housing assistance not cover?
Housing assistance does not cover amenities such as internet, sauna or parking fees. You also cannot get housing assistance for rental security deposits, advance rent payments, a real estate agent’s commission, real estate tax or home insurance.
Can I get housing assistance?
Kela can pay housing assistance for conscripts to pay the housing costs of
- a person in military or non-military service
- the married spouse of a person in military or non-military service
- a cohabiting partner with whom the person in military or non-military service has a child
- a child whose guardian is in military or non-military service.
Unmarried partners are not paid housing assistance unless they have a child together with the person in military or non-military service. Married spouses cannot get housing assistance if they have moved out of the home they have shared with their spouse because the relationship has ended.
Non-military service
Kela can pay conscript's allowance towards the housing costs of your permanent home for the duration of the training period of the non-military service. After the training period ends, your non-military service continues with a service period.
During this period, your housing costs will be paid by your place of service and not by Kela. However, if your place of service orders you to live somewhere other than your permanent home, you can get housing assistance from Kela towards the housing costs of your permanent home.
Read more on the website of the Centre for Non-Military Service
How much housing assistance can you get?
Your income and expenses determine if you can get housing assistance and how much the housing assistance will be.
Benefits paid during your service may also affect the housing assistance. General housing allowance and the housing supplement for students will be deducted from the housing costs, and Kela will pay housing assistance only for costs that exceed the deduction.
How do income and benefits affect conscript’s allowance?
Housing assistance in different situations
If you received general housing allowance from Kela prior to entering service, the allowance will continue to be paid throughout your service.
- Your general housing allowance will not be discontinued because you enter service. However, you must apply for a review of your housing allowance because your income has changed.
- Additionally, you can be granted housing assistance for conscripts. The amount of housing assistance equals the difference between the general housing allowance and your housing costs.
Rented home
You can get housing assistance from Kela for a rented home if you have lived in rented housing on a permanent basis for at least 3 months before entering service. In such a situation, you can move before entering service or while you are in service, as you have already lived independently before entering service.
If, on the other hand, you have rented your home less than 3 months before entering service or after you have already entered service, and you did not live in rented housing before that, you cannot usually be granted housing assistance. In that case, Kela covers your housing costs only if there was a legitimate reason for you to rent the new home.
Legitimate reasons include
- moving in with your partner
- having a child
- you will be starting studies or work far from your current place of residence within 2 to 3 months of finishing your service
- you get an apartment after being on a waiting list for a long time.
Legitimate reasons do not include
- wanting to live independently
- your parents no longer want you to live at home.
Owner-occupied homes
You can get housing assistance towards the housing costs of an owner-occupied home. It does not matter if you have moved to the owner-occupied home less than 3 months before entering military or non-military service or during your service.
If an unmarried cohabiting couple receives general housing allowance jointly from Kela, the person in military or non-military service can get housing assistance for conscripts in addition to the general housing allowance.
However, you can get housing assistance only towards your own housing costs, which in practice means half the shared housing costs. When calculating your housing assistance, half the general housing allowance will be deducted from your housing costs.
Rented home
If you are in military or non-military service and you and your cohabiting partner who you are not married to do not have any children together, your housing assistance can cover half at most of the housing costs of your rented home.
Owner-occupied homes
Unmarried couple who own a home together
If you do not have any children together and you jointly own a home, your housing assistance can cover half of your housing costs at most.
Unmarried couple, only one partner owns the home
If you alone own your home, you can get housing assistance towards the interest payments on your housing loan. Other housing costs, such as maintenance charges, electricity bills and water charges, are halved.
If your partner alone owns your home, you can get housing assistance towards the interest payments on their housing loan only if you have contributed to the interest payments. You need to send Kela proof of payment showing that you have paid interest on the loan before entering service. Other housing costs, such as maintenance charges, electricity bills and water charges, are halved. No proof of payment is needed for such costs.
If you received general housing allowance from Kela prior to entering military or non-military service, the allowance will continue to be paid throughout the service.
- Your general housing allowance will not be discontinued because you enter service. However, you must apply for a review of your housing allowance because your income has changed.
- Additionally, you can be granted housing assistance for conscripts. The amount of housing assistance equals the difference between the general housing allowance and your housing costs.
If you live with a partner you are married to or with a live-in partner with whom you have a child together, Kela will pay your housing assistance to them. This means that the housing assistance is not paid to the person in military or non-military service.
Housing costs include housing costs for the entire home.
If you come from outside Finland to perform military or non-military service, Kela can pay you or your partner housing assistance even if your home is not in Finland. In that case, Kela needs further information about your housing costs.
Kela can also pay you housing assistance for a home you have rented in Finland for the duration of your service. In that case, your housing assistance is at most the equivalent of the rent of a rented one-room apartment in the same municipality. Other housing costs are covered in the same way as they are for Finnish residents. You do not need to rent the home three months before entering military or non-military service.
How to apply for housing assistance for conscripts
Apply for housing assistance for conscripts about a month before entering service. Housing assistance cannot be paid retroactively.
Apply for housing assistance in the same way you apply for other types of conscript’s allowance.