Helsinki managed to create a district for both bank managers and shop employees
The municipality adopted good intentions that should provide a varied housing offer, yet the apartments were sold for several million kroner.
The enthusiasm was initial great when Oslo municipality developed the “fjord city”. The areas for the disused shipyards and wharves in Pipervika and Bjørvika were released for urban renewal. In the process, an idea competition was announced, but the material was in practice shelved. Apart from a commercially interesting project which was named «Aker Brygge». The municipality had adopted good intentions for the fjord city, which was supposed to provide a varied housing offer, but the apartments were sold for several million kroner. The large apartments become home to the very richest, while the small ones are attractive investment properties for rental, holiday homes or Airbnb. For the majority of Oslo’s population, the fjord city is just a place to visit.
Nyhavna: Another Aker Brygge copy or the world’s first technology port?
In Helsinki began one in the 90s worked to turn «Jätkäsaari», a former harbor area, into a new residential area with around 18 thousand inhabitants. The municipality of Helsinki owned the plot, and used its ownership power to regulate the social mix of residents in the new district. Experience shows that the districts become more alive and creative because a diversity of people have access to live there. Several non-profit housing players have been allowed to offer reasonable rental housing, while there are also some commercial rental and owner-occupied housing. This is how to ensure the municipality of Helsinki and a diverse district that is accessible to both bank managers and shop employees.
The architect office COBE, which will now be involved in developing the first part of Nyhavna, has been involved in the urban renewal project on Papirøen in Copenhagen. This is a harbor area with 300 brand new homes, 85 of which are so-called “public housing”, i.e. reasonable non-profit rental housing which ensures that the district will have a broad mix of residents.
Thursday 15 September at 19 invites Adresseavisen to the urban development debate: Nyhavna: A district just for the rich?
An important element in the Norwegian model, it is the public organizer for us to meet across different backgrounds. Regardless of income and background, we send children to the same kindergarten or school.
Today’s commercial housing policy creates segregated cities, where many people cannot work and live in the same city and class differences are shown based on residential address. The commercial housing players have also discovered that this problem is on the agenda, and offered schemes such as “rent before owning” and “share ownership”. These are schemes created to sound social but with the intention of making money.
Likewise, such schemes can often be good schemes for people with solid income but little equity. At the same time, it is not this group that represents the biggest challenges on the housing market. People of foreign origin are actively discriminated against in the rental market. Research shows that they have to pay DKK 1,000 more than the majority population for the same rental properties. The same applies to people who receive support from the public. If you have children, it is difficult to find rental properties in the right size and school district.
The housing association in Trondheim and Svartlamon housing foundation started a pilot project in 2020 to offer affordable rental housing. The goal of the collaboration was to offer people a safe and reasonable home. The background was the high amount of empty municipal housing, combined with the many who need to be able to rent reasonably and long-term. A diverse resident group of people with immigrant backgrounds, families with children, nurses and the disabled live here.
This social mix creates good social community and makes the district more accessible to ordinary people. The project shows that models models are possible here in Trondheim. The housing foundation in Trondheim wants to be able to offer more people with challenges on the housing market a safe and reasonable home. The housing foundation offers safe and long-term rental rights and simply greater freedom of choice on the housing market for everyone.
Here, Trondheim will get a new park by the sea
In Trondheim is Nyhavna Utvikling AS set to develop Nyhavna and Trondheim Havn’s plots in the area. Trondheim municipality is the majority owner of the company, and will be able to make a good profit from building commercially.
Nyhavna Udvikling must not run at a loss, but when the municipality is the majority owner, it cannot be managed on the basis of profit maximization at the expense of the city’s weakest. It now appears that the project is moving towards the greatest possible profit, despite the politicians’ clear goals that Nyhavna should not become a segregated and childless district that is only for the very richest. It is therefore important that politicians dare to put action behind the ambitious goals. One option is to choose to take plots from the company as an exchange, and make a plot agreement or pass these plots on to players who could build reasonable non-profit rental housing.
To build housing for housing construction is short-sighted thinking. Nyhavna is not primarily about building homes, but about building a district that will stand for centuries. All Western European countries apart from Norway have a functioning non-profit rental sector. We expect that the politicians in the city dare to look to Helsinki, Copenhagen and other cities in Europe where it is decided that expansion projects must also contain many reasonable rental properties.
Accelerating the development of Nyhavna
Trondheim municipality can be ahead of the rest of the country in creating an offer of housing for ordinary people in Nyhavna. The extension can become a project with transfer value to the rest of the country, showing how urban renewal of an attractive nearby area can also be integrated into housing for all the different groups that live in a city. We have the actors in the city who can offer this and in Nyhavna we have the plots for it. Then the municipality must focus on short-term profit and think about long-term social sustainability.
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