Total confusion among Puhos store owners about their businesses future
The lack of communication with the Government of the city of Helsinki turned rumours into their only source of information. If the shopping center is demolished to build new apartments, as published by some Finnish media, no less than 150 people will lose their jobs.
When store owners rent a place to setup their business, usually they should know if -at least- the next year that place will be still available. But not in Puhos.
We are already in March and many entrepreneurs and workers of Puhos, most of them immigrants, still do not know if the lease of the shopping center will be extended after December 2020. They have lived with concern and uncertainty over the last years, and still they do not know if they must find another place or if they will keep their jobs.
Foreigner.fi talked on Tuesday with some of the store owners and workers in Puhos
Complaints about lack of information from the city government were present in each conversation. Some of these entrepreneurs say they have heard that the lease will be extended. Others believe that only some parts of the shopping centre will be demolished... but among those interviewed nobody has got any official response from Helsinki city.
The Kirkuk restaurant owner is the only one that says he has been in a meeting with the city workers: "They said that the leasehold would be extended for the next five years. I heard it". However, he does not have any official paper stating that.
Restaurant Kirkuk. Photo: Eric Lipchis.
What is Puhos for the people in Puhos?
The importance of Puhos may be unnoticed for most of people in Helsinki, but not for those who work there.
One of the persons in charge of a coffee shop explains it like this: "This is a paradise. Here we can buy our food, we can meet, talk, laugh... We are happy here and we want to take care of this place. This is our home."
A pastry shop owner adds to that: "This is the heart of Helsinki for refugees. There are many refugees working and buying in Puhos."
A grocery worker explains that if Puhos closes, no less than 150 immigrants would lose their jobs.
Social problems and drugs or just excuses?
Helsingin Uutiset reported a few weeks ago that security authorities see the situation in Puhos as very difficult because of the drug dealerships and social problems. And the Swedish-language daily Hufvudstadsbladet said last week that the city council is planning to demolish the shopping center and replace it with housing blocks. To do this, they would take advantage of the lease agreement ending at the end of 2020.
In reference to this matter, the Kirkuk restaurant owner is sharp: "The people who say that are the ones who want to tear this down."
A security guard in Puhos, who daily performs five half-hour rounds around the place, says: "I do not see problems with drugs involved. There were problems with drugs before, but not now."
A taxi driver also explains: "Puhos is like everywhere else in Helsinki. There are not more drugs here than in many other places in Helsinki. I see it every day." Then, he points at Itis shopping centre, located at the other side of the street, and adds: "The rich world in one side and the poor world on the other side. Finnish people do not care about Puhos, so if there is any kind of problem, they do not think it is their problem."
The leader of the Left Alliance council group, Anna Vuorjoki told Foreigner.fi: "I do not know the exact situation of drugs in Puhos, but if there are social problems, there should be some discussion with the city and those companies or persons who work there to know how to solve the problem. But the first thing to do must not be giving Puhos an end. So that is not a good reason to not extend the contract."
"There should be a discussion about what to do for the area, what to do to have a nice and good area. There can be different kind of solutions for that and it does not mean you have to change the whole concept and you have to change who are operating there," she emphasized.