Faisa Warsame looks up at a veranda on the fifth floor. Hagegata 30 on Tøyen Torg was her childhood home. In 2014, the municipal block was emptied. Since then, little has happened. – We have a housing crisis in Oslo, and then such a large building stands empty for ten years – you don’t understand it, she says. Oslo municipality owns several buildings where apartments have been empty. Now the city council wants to do something about it – but it is not enough, according to a property expert. Faisa looks up at her childhood home. She had moved out when her mother and the rest of the residents in Hagegata 30 were evicted. – She did not understand why they had to move. Photo: Hallgeir Braastad / news Faisa’s mother had lived in the block for almost twenty years when she was thrown out. – She felt it as a form of abuse, that she was only ordered to move out and find a completely different place to live. Then it is extra frustrating to see that the block is still empty, Warsame thinks. – I think everyone has known a little about it. And those of us who have lived there know more about it, she says. – We have politicians who have to do a job here. Housing will be the topic of tonight’s metropolitan broadcast from Oslo. You can watch it on news on Tuesday at 22. Way into the housing market The plan was to create student housing. Nothing ever came of it. But now something is finally happening with the block. Before the summer, the city council allocated almost a quarter of a billion to renovate. 17 of the apartments will become municipal housing again. Like the one Warsame grew up in. And from which his mother was thrown out, because the municipality wanted to spread the municipal housing throughout the city. – It’s a bit tragicomic to think about, says Warsame. The last 31 apartments are to be sold to people who are struggling to enter the market – at 80 percent of the market price. Lower price Let’s take an example. If a two-room apartment at Tøyen usually costs approx. NOK 4 million, one in this scheme can then be bought for NOK 3.2 million. Lower equity With a lower price, the requirement for equity also falls: For an apartment for NOK 3.2 million, you need NOK 480,000 in equity. While an apartment for 4 million requires 600,000. Can own less But it is still a lot of money. Therefore, you can also, for example, buy only half the apartment – and pay rent to the municipality for the rest. Then you only need half of the equity. Establishment housing, the municipality calls it. Warsame is positive. But disappointed that it took nine years to find out what was going to happen to the block. – Then you haven’t had a good enough plan, before you throw out people who wanted to stay. This is what people at Tøyen think about the plans: Maya Bryntesen – I think it’s very smart. If not, it is difficult for young people to enter the market. We have to do something or other. – Could it be relevant for you? – I have an apartment in Oslo myself, so I’m “good”. But if I had been 21-22 years old, or studied and been new to Oslo, I would probably have appreciated living so close to the city centre. And the clothes are really nice. Ida Elise Haar Martinsen – It’s better than it being empty. – Could it be relevant for you? – Absolutely. I live in Tøyen, I enjoy myself. If the offer had existed when I was a student and had less than I have today, it would have been absolutely perfect. Faisa Warsame – It is a very good solution. This will lead to far more target groups being included. Including Muslims who may not want to take out a loan to buy a home. So I think that’s very nice. – I certainly think my mother would have been a candidate, but they never got that opportunity. It came ten years later. Jonas Kransberg and Susanne MoeSusanne: – It sounds like a great idea. We are tired of it not being used for anything. I am very positive. Jonas: – It has been empty for a very long time now. It’s such a good location in the city, and it’s sad for the area that it’s empty. So that something should be used, and something that is somewhat accessible to people, sounds good. The city council’s goal is to get more developer housing in place over time. And there are several solutions to get more “ordinary people” into the housing market: These are the alternative solutions Many developers throughout the country offer alternative ways of buying housing. They have slightly different names, but the concepts are often similar. Subletting means that you buy part of a home. You often have to buy at least half at the start, and can buy a larger share later on. The rest is rented. With rent-to-own or rent-to-own, you rent a home for a few years. You then get the right to buy the home at an agreed price. With housing start, you can buy a new home at something below the market price. The requirement is that the developer has the right to buy it back when selling. Home guarantee means that you can get a loan for the entire value of the home. The guarantee comes in place of equity. All the models are aimed at those who have a high enough income to manage a loan, but too little equity. – It expands the circle of people who want the opportunity to buy a home, says Henning Lauridsen in Eiendom Norge. But he believes it does nothing to address the main reason for the high prices. That there are too few homes for sale in Oslo. – A disaster Eiendom Norge, which organizes estate agents, regularly supplies statistics on house prices. The numbers speak for themselves. Prices in Oslo have doubled in ten years. Steady work and a good income are far from enough for many: the sale of new homes has more than halved. An average nurse can now only afford to buy one in a hundred homes in the capital. And never have fewer people bought a home for the first time in the city. – The situation Oslo has driven itself into is a kind of disaster in slow motion, says Lauridsen. Rental prices have also increased sharply. Alternative routes into the housing market news has previously written about several alternative routes into the housing market. Here you can read some of the cases: – It must be a bit like MDG Eiendom Norge, based on Statistics Norway figures, has concluded that Oslo has had very low housing construction per inhabitant in the last ten years. At the same time, the city’s population has grown by over 86,000 people. – And it seems that it will get worse in the coming years, because now even fewer homes are likely to be built, says Lauridsen. He believes the politicians must make some unpopular choices if housing construction is to increase. – You don’t always become popular by doing this. You have to be a bit like MDG was in Oslo. They really believe in something. And has fought hard for it, he says. Henning Lauridsen does not believe that more housing construction is a winning cause for the politicians in Oslo. That is why cooperation is needed, he believes. Photo: Bård Nafstad / news Because there are always good arguments for saying no to housing projects “right here”. It simply becomes politics. – If we look at other Norwegian cities, it is striking that where you manage to get enough housing built – such as Trondheim and Kristiansand – it is also based on having quite broad political alliances. And that is probably something that Oslo is missing, Lauridsen believes. Warns against Tøyen stoppage That housing has become politics, they are well aware of at Tøyen. Perhaps that is part of the reason why it has taken so long to clarify what is happening with Hagegata 30. And not least there was politics behind when Faisa’s mother and the other residents in the block had to move. Now the block’s future is perhaps in the blue. Again. For the right side will revive the plans to turn the building into student housing. – It is a bit absurd that when you stand on the starting line, the opposition should threaten to pull the rug from under the whole thing, and go back to the start, says Ole Pedersen. Ole Pedersen and Tøyen housing association want Tøyen to be the best possible place to live. Photo: Hallgeir Braastad / news He is the leader of the Tøyen housing association. An organization of neighbors and others who will influence development on Tøyen. They are concerned that people should stay. For Tøyen is an area where many people move in and out. – More student housing right here will only increase the flow and reduce the possibility of having stable and good living environments, Pedersen believes. Watch the debate about, among other things, the housing market in Oslo on news at 22 Tuesday evening.
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Blokka på Tøyen has been empty for nine years – while house prices are rising – news Oslo og Viken – Local news, TV and radio
