Where seasonal workers live at Levi, Ylläs, Saariselkä and Rovaniemi: staff housing, a holiday apartment on a seasonal lease or a municipal flat, and what to
A shared staff flat, a holiday apartment on a seasonal lease or a municipal rental. The housing shortage in the ski resorts is real, and this is how people live with it.
Shortage figures from Yle and Kesko news 2017–2026, search channels from the municipalities’ own pages. Our sister site laplandwork.com handles the jobs themselves.
Staff housing, a seasonal lease or a municipal flat.
The most common answer in the ski resorts: the employer rents row houses, cabins and holiday apartments for staff for the whole season and takes the rent from your pay. At Ruka a restaurant group was already renting four holiday properties from November to May for its staff in 2017 (Yle, 25 Oct 2017). The upside: a roof is ready when you arrive. The risk: the flat ends when the job ends.
2. A holiday apartment on a seasonal lease
An 80 m² alpine cabin at Levi: €750 a month from May to November, €2,000 a week in high season, €1,650 a month year-round (Yle, 25 May 2023). Cheap in summer, impossible in winter. You also cannot register your address at a flat zoned for accommodation, which affects Kela benefits and municipal services.
Kittilän Vuokratalot Oy, Inarin Vuokra-asunnot Oy (over 500 flats in Ivalo, Inari and Saariselkä) and Asentopuulaaki in Sodankylä (about 720 flats). Apply in summer before the season starts; in Kittilä an application stays valid for three months and you can queue even when nothing is free right now.
Kittilä’s population grew 2.0 percent in 2025, the most of any Lapland municipality (Statistics Finland). Employers rent row houses for staff for the whole season, and everyone else searches the Levi housing group on Facebook. Kittilä village has municipal flats for those with a car.
Shopkeepers are building for themselves: Jounin Kauppa’s three row houses are due in November–December 2026 with studios, two-room flats designed for sharing and three-room family flats, each with a sauna (Kesko, 17 Jun 2026). The village’s first modular building was completed in October 2025 (Yle, 16 Jun 2026).
The municipal company Inarin Vuokra-asunnot Oy has flats in both Saariselkä and Ivalo, and the municipality’s page lists private landlords and the Sodankylä–Inari–Utsjoki Facebook group. Saariselkä employers also house staff themselves; ask at the interview.
Students, tourists and seasonal workers compete for the same studios at the same time: DAS received about 1,300 applications and made about 550 contracts, so roughly 30 percent of applicants got a flat (Lapin Kansa). Santa Claus Village and safari company staff often live in flats their employer rents on the edge of town.
Ruka is in Northern Ostrobothnia, not Lapland, but the season and the shortage are the same. Ruka’s restaurant group grows from about 20 permanent staff to over 80 in winter and was already renting four holiday properties for staff from November to May in 2017 (Yle, 25 Oct 2017).
K-Market Jounin Kauppa, Äkäslompolo, July 2026. The owners are building three row houses for their staff (Kesko, 17 Jun 2026). Photo: LaplandVibes.
New construction at Levi, July 2026. Photo: LaplandVibes.
Does the employer provide housing for seasonal workers at Levi?
Often, but not always and not for free. Employers rent row houses and holiday apartments for staff for the whole season and take the rent from your pay. Get the offer in writing and check what happens to the flat if the job ends.
When should I start looking for winter-season housing?
In summer. Municipal housing applications (Kittilä, Inari, Sodankylä) stay valid for months, and monthly lets of holiday apartments end in November when weekly sales begin (Yle, 25 May 2023).
Can I live in a holiday apartment for the whole season?
Yes, if the owner offers a seasonal lease, but you cannot register your address at a flat zoned for accommodation (Yle, 25 May 2023). Without a home municipality, Kela benefits and municipal services do not follow you.
The season often starts before the flat is free. Our partner search shows available rooms and apartments at today’s prices.
The Levi tourist area hires well over 2,000 seasonal workers for the winter season, estimated Kristiina Kukkohovi, managing director of Levin Matkailu Oy, back in 2017, and even then she called the housing shortage a big problem in every Lapland resort (Yle, 25 Oct 2017). It has not eased: in spring 2023 Yle reported on Levi and Ylläs workers living in holiday apartments where they cannot register an address.