The Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region

Hoas is an example of what the student community can do together. It all began when 16 student organisations in the Helsinki area put their heads together, gathered a small amount of capital and took out a hefty bank loan. Those were the humble beginnings of the Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region sr, which has worked since 1969 to provide affordable rental housing for students. In 50 years, that small amount of start-up capital has turned into a business with a turnover of 80 million euro and 11 000 student apartments.

The Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region (Hoas) is a non-profit foundation. Hoas rents are approximately 30 percent lower than the market.

Since its foundation the aim has been to relieve the shortage of student housing in the capital area. Hoas works in cooperation with the student unions of the University of Helsinki and Aalto University, as well as 10 other university and polytechnic student unions.

Hoas rents out, builds and maintains housing in the capital region for students who are studying full time at schools of secondary level education. Hoas works together with universities and polytechnics by offering furnished apartments and housing services also to international exchange students.

Hoas has approximately 19 000 tenants, roughly a third of whom are international students. Each year, about 8 000 new tenancy agreements are signed. The average length of a tenancy is 1.5 years. The average occupancy rate of Hoas housing is 98 %, taking yearly renovations into account.

The majority of Hoas’ rental services and property maintenance is managed by Hoas’ own staff, with the help of a number of partners and service providers.

Hoas – the easiest and the most comfortable student living.

The Student Unions of Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki School of Economics and University of Art and Design Helsinki merged on 1st January 2010 to form Aalto University Student Union.

Student Union of the Academy of Fine Arts (KUVYO), Student Union of Sibelius Academy (SAY) and Student Union of Theatre Academy Helsinki (TEYO) merged on 1st January 2013 to form University of the Arts Student Union.

Hoas promotes student housing in a sustainable way. Acting sustainably means always operating in a way that promotes socially, financially and ecologically sustainable development, in accordance with the stated purpose of the foundation. Our operation adheres to the principles of corporate governance. Read more: Sustainability

Hoas strives to treat its customers equally in all operations.

Hoas aims to take its customers’ individual needs into account in its products and services, and in the application process.

Hoas’ operations and their guiding principles are transparent.

Hoas is a safe and reliable lessor.

We have listened to students’ needs and wishes and aimed at understanding future development trends. By taking these into account, we develop our housing supply and housing services to achieve a living experience that is as good as possible. We construct new buildings near campuses and locations with good public transportation connections. In addition, we do complete renovation to our older properties so that the apartments and common facilitiess are of high quality and pleasant to live in. Janitors take care of aspects of everyday living on the properties.

Digitalisation and fast electronic services are becoming more and more important, but so is offering stability and security. As a non-profit foundation we offer affordable living for students who are in various situations in life. To accomplish all this we need a skilled staff whose well-being is looked after.

We want to offer easiest and the most comfortable student living as well as be the first choice for students. We aim to improve the living experience and upgrade the quality of our properties as well as services while keeping students in the focus in all our operations.

Important themes in our strategy are:

As the base of our strategy: