COMPLETELY SICK: The Conservative candidate for city council leader believes he has the cure for the rental market in Oslo. Photo: Hanna Johre / VG
He calls the rental market in Oslo “absolutely sick”. Now Høyre’s Eirik Lae Solberg claims that he has the medicine.
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The right-wing city council leader candidate, Eirik Lae Solberg, believes he has the recipe for the rental market in Oslo, which he believes is “absolutely sick”. The right-wing politician believes the current city council has failed in housing policy. . City council leader Raymond Johansen disagrees with Lae Solberg’s criticism. Show more
The symptoms of the disease are, according to the city council leader candidate:
Sky-high prices Battle for rental housing Record-long queues for student housing
Here is the “blue” recipe: 10,000 new student homes, lifting of the apartment standard and closer cooperation with the Studentship Board and the private sector.
VG meets Høyre’s city council leader candidate, Eirik Lae Solberg, outside the “Studentsiloen” on Grünerløkka. Before, the tall built grain was stored. Now the grain has been replaced with 192 student housing.
– This is a type of creative thinking that we should have more of, begins the mayoral candidate.
He uses two words to describe the rental market in the capital:
– Insane.
SILO: Lae Solberg calls for more creative thinking in the preparation of student accommodation. Photo: Hanna Johre / VG
City councilor Raymond Johansen (Ap) does not agree with the criticism from Lae Solberg. He says that there is no lack of political will to get homes built Oslo.
– They can show off and come up with numbers, but then I’m busy seeing what they’ve voted for in the city council, says Johansen to VG.
Read the city council leader’s response to the criticism further down in the matter.
– They have failed completely
Last week VG published an article about chaos on the rental market. Lae Solberg believes it is a symptom of failed politics.
– A few years ago, Raymond Johansen said that his most important task was to get more plots ready for construction. During the seven years he has been in charge, things have gone in the wrong direction.
He highlights figures from the Planning and Building Agency in Oslo. They show that 1,109 homes were regulated in Oslo in 2022, and 1,313 the year before.
Lae Solberg himself aims for 3,000 newly regulated homes a year.
The right-wing candidate takes aim at the current city council:
– They have failed completely in what the municipality can do, namely get more plots ready for construction.
He believes that Raymond Johansen and the Labor Party have broken promises on which they ran for election in 2015.
– They promised that they would make arrangements to build 100,000 new homes. Even the ambition of 5,000 homes a year is nowhere near it. This is the mother of all broken promises.
HJELM: The right-wing politician arrived at the “Student silo” on a bicycle. Photo: Hanna Johre / VG
– Coincidences and muzzle factor
Lae Solberg has made up his mind about the rental market in the capital.
– It is pure coincidence, the nose factor, or very good finances, which determine whether you get an apartment. That selection becomes so brutal that ordinary people who want to rent a home don’t make it.
He says there will always be a fight for the apartments in the big city, but will not accept today’s market as the new normal.
– When there are long queues outside in the street before a screening, then things have gone very wrong. It should be possible for ordinary people in Oslo to get a home, whether they rent or own. Then the Oslo ban on building apartments under 35 square meters must be lifted.
Much of the pressure on the rental market can be eased if the city council facilitates more student accommodation, Lae Solberg believes.
– Last year, the construction of 250 new student housing in Oslo was stopped. We believe that 10,000 new student housing must be built in Oslo, and if we are to succeed in this, we must put all our efforts into it.
NO ACTION: The right-wing city council leader candidate calls Hagegata 30 “the monument to the city council’s lack of action”. Photo: Hanna Johre / VG
Calls for creativity
Some of the good forces must be the state and the Housing Bank, says Lae Solberg.
– The Storting must lift the ban on allowing anyone other than student associations to apply for a reasonable loan from the Housing Bank to build student accommodation.
He follows up with a pledge to the Student Ship Board in Oslo.
– If we win the election, we will immediately invite the Studentship Board to see which municipal plots and buildings are suitable for student housing. They have the will, and they feel today that they are facing a rather difficult municipality.
– We simply have to be creative and see what opportunities exist. There has been far too little of that in recent years, and we want to do something about that, continues Lae Solberg.
He believes that the current city council manages unused buildings and plots of land too poorly, and says that many municipal buildings are standing and falling into disrepair.
– The most glaring example is Hagegata 30 on Tøyen. That block of flats has now been empty for eight years and has become a monument to this city council’s lack of action.
WORKING AT: City council leader in Oslo, Raymond Johansen (Ap), says that the city council has good cooperation with the Studentship Association. Photo: Frode Hansen / VG
Raymond Johansen: There is no “quick fix”
City councilor in Oslo, Raymond Johansen (Ap), says he understands students and others who are now struggling to find housing.
– It is clear that it is tough, there is no doubt about that. This is an enormously big challenge that we are working hard to solve.
Johansen does not agree with Lae Solberg that the municipality is difficult for the Student Union. The management criticism of municipal buildings and plots of land seems odd to the city council leader.
– Høyre has previously sold massive plots of land. We don’t really own very much.
The Conservative’s votes in the city council are also not compatible with the promises made to Lae Solberg, Johansen believes.
– I can mention that they have gone towards building on Skøyen, Montebello and Haslevangen. They also went against 130 student housing in Diakonveien 14 together with Venstre and Rødt.
Johansen does not agree that the city council is described as inaction. He says that there is no lack of political will to build housing in Oslo.
– We have set aside 16 area plans which have just been sent to the city council. When it comes to housing construction, we have initiated the construction of over 24,000 new homes since 2015.
Several projects that have been approved have been put on hold by the developers, says the city council leader. Increased construction costs and a lower ability to pay on the part of buyers are cited as reasons.
– This is compound and complex, both private and public. There is no reason to pretend that this is something you have a very “quick fix” for.
Published:
Published: 03.08.23 at 07:27
Updated: 03.08.23 at 07:38
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2023-08-03 05:27:41
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