Christel Vråberg Thunestvedt (33) and her family have lived in Sortland municipality for 8 years and were looking for a bigger home. But finding a bigger place to live was easier said than done. According to Thunestvedt, the few properties that are sold in Sortland municipality are quickly snapped up and often at prices far above the assessed value. – We experience that there is almost a war over housing as soon as they come out, she says. Due to challenges in finding a suitable home, or land to build a home on, Thunestvedt’s husband applied for a job in Notodden. So when child number four announced his arrival, the family was well established in the south. Christel Vråberg Thunestvedt has four children. Here are the three oldest. The youngest is in the stomach. Photo: Privat Several municipalities are struggling with a housing shortage Previously, news wrote about Træna municipality having to ask people to sell their holiday homes due to a housing shortage. And Træna is not alone: About two out of three companies in the district are struggling to recruit people due to a housing shortage. Christel Vråberg Thunestvedt believes there is a good chance that she and her family would have stayed in Sortland if there had been housing or land available. – I think Sortland municipality has relaxed, says Thunestvedt. – They like to say that they are a growing municipality and that they have a lot to offer. But they don’t have houses and plots of land. It has been a huge problem. It was Bladet Vesterålen that first mentioned the case. HOUSING SHORTAGE: Christel and her family want to settle here. But a housing shortage led to them moving out of the municipality. Photo: Bente Christine Rasmussen The children have now started kindergarten and school in Notodden, and the family will probably stay there. She still hopes that the municipality will take some measures, so that it will be easier for others who want to settle in her home municipality. – Sortland has ended up “behind” Municipal manager Terje Kili in Sortland regrets that the family of four had to move from the municipality. He says that the family is both wanted and welcome, even though the municipality was unable to deliver what the family needed. The municipalities must become much more active in municipal politics and not wait for the market to solve it, says Sortland’s municipal manager, Terje Kili. Photo: news – It is sad that we are losing a family of six who are exactly the right age for a municipality like Sortland. Sortland has long been a growth municipality, but in recent years the municipality has fallen “behind”, he admits. – The private market has long managed to keep supply in line with demand. Now he believes that the municipality must step in and manage the housing market to a greater extent. – It is expensive to build residential areas. There are requirements for roads, water and drainage. In addition, there is local opposition as any developments affect the hiking area of those who already live in central Sortland. – There are some classic preserve or not preserve dilemmas in the center of Sortland, he says. This is where the least and most are built: The overview below shows in percentage how many of the homes in a municipality were built after the year 2000. The figures are taken from Statistics Norway’s overview of years of construction for the homes in the municipalities. Here there is a distance between each newly built home (in percentage): Vardø: 0.9% Gamvik: 1% Loppa: 1.4% Værøy: 2.8% Båtsfjord: 2.8% Here it is the closest between the newly built homes ( in percent): Wool matters: 48.5% Svalbard and Jan Mayen: 47.3% Time: 40.6% Sola: 40.6% Klepp: 37.9% Source: Statistics Norway A problem throughout District Norway According to municipal and the District Ministry, the housing shortage is a problem throughout the country. – Many district municipalities report little new construction, and too little varied supply of housing units, says municipal minister Sigbjørn Gjelsvik (Sp). – Another challenge is that housing prices in many rural areas are so low that they do not even cover the construction costs. Gjelsvik is right about that. news has previously told that building houses in the districts often costs more than it tastes like. The value if you build a house in the district is usually far less than what it costs to build. On Røst outside Lofoten, Jørund Johansen and partner Marte Pedersen were last year the first to invest in a new house on the island in 20 years. The value of the house they build is halved as they put the key in the door. Now the cohabiting party is sitting with a large loan on a house that will not be worth as much as similar houses in urban areas. – The municipalities’ responsibility The Minister for Municipalities, however, denies that the state is responsible for the housing shortage in the districts. – It is the municipalities that have the key role in housing policy. They are the ones who know where the shoe presses and who have the best prerequisites for finding good, local solutions adapted to the needs of people in different life stages. Gjelsvik says many municipalities are already doing a good job of getting more housing built. In Lebesby in Troms and Finnmark, the municipality provides support for the construction of new homes and the remodeling of existing homes. – In addition, they are testing a municipal buy-back agreement to relieve the risk of financial loss when selling homes. The housing bank also has an important role in supporting the municipalities, says the minister. According to Gjelsvik, it is very important that families with children stay in and that more people move to small district municipalities. – I think most municipalities are very aware of that, and many municipalities also do a lot of good work that others can draw inspiration from.
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Housing shortage in the districts – Sortland has no place for Christel and the family – news Nordland
