Paris removes homeless individuals ahead of 2024 Olympic Games

Yle reported on Wednesday about the hidden aspects of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. According to the article, the city of Paris has relocated a large number of homeless and undocumented individuals from the streets during the Olympic events. Such operations are typically not publicly discussed. Similarly, the removal of homeless individuals and alcoholics from the streets of Helsinki prior to the 1952 Olympics remains largely overlooked.

Author Kirsti Manninen details one instance of such a relocation. She notes that in 1951, the city of Helsinki purchased the Hirvihaara Manor located in Mäntsälä, specifically to create a place for homeless alcoholics to be moved away from the public eye during the Games. Manninen recalls, “The city’s other nursing homes were probably quite full at that time. After the wars, there was a huge number of men who could not reintegrate into society. Hirvihaara Manor was one destination where these street men were relocated during the Olympics.”

Hirvihaara served as a nursing home under Koskela and sometimes Roihuvuori nursing homes, maintaining connections to Helsinki through phone and weekly laundry services. Initially, around 60 homeless alcoholics were placed in Mäntsälä, which later reduced to about 50 by the 1960s.

Manninen emphasizes that the operation in Mäntsälä was not a temporary cleanup but rather a more permanent solution, as most residents lived there until their deaths, often experiencing better care than they had before. The home fostered a family-like atmosphere, offering good food and supportive staff.

Hirvihaara Manor continued operating as a nursing facility until 1989, when the city sold the property, later transformed into a hotel and conference center in 1992. Similar street cleaning efforts took place in Helsinki during other major events, such as the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.