Housing allowance and social assistance for self-employed persons
Self-employed persons can apply for housing benefits and support for their income from Kela if their incomes are low. In addition to the low-income entrepreneur’s own incomes, also the incomes of the other household members may affect these benefits.
Self-employed persons can apply for housing allowance
- Kela can pay general housing allowance to low-income households to help them meet their housing costs.
- Assess whether your household is entitled to housing allowance with the help of a benefit calculator (in Finnish).
- The allowance is affected by the combined gross incomes of the household members, i.e. their incomes before taxes.
- Kela estimates the amount of self-employment income based on the self-employed person’s reported income under the self-employed persons’ (YEL) or farmers’ (MYEL) pension insurance schemes. If you are not insured under the YEL or MYEL Acts, an estimate of the income is made on the basis of the start-up grant, minimum income, salary or your own estimate of the income. Minimum income means an income equivalent to the labour market subsidy without child increases (about 800 euros per month in 2024). You do not have to submit financial statement data to Kela.
- Read instructions for how to apply for general housing allowance and about the amount of the allowance.
All housing benefits are described in the section about housing benefits.
Social assistance is a form of last-resort financial support
- Before you apply for basic social assistance, you should find out if you are eligible for other Kela benefits.
- Social assistance is a form of last-resort financial support, meaning that it is affected by all the net incomes and assets of the family and the company. Social assistance can be granted to cover necessary daily expenses.
- If you apply for social assistance, Kela will perform a profitability analysis on your business.
- Read the instructions on how to apply for social assistance and what supporting documentation you must submit. You must provide information on your income on a separate form.
A comprehensive description of the social assistance is provided in the section on social assistance.