I was afraid people would freeze to death – now Tromsø municipality has found the solution – NRK Troms and Finnmark – Local news, TV and radio

The grade creeps towards zero and the snow descends. For two days, a warning was sent for heavy snow in Troms.

At the pier in central Tromsø, homeless people and drug addicts have found a place to live. A container to be in peace.

– This is a meeting place for everyone who wants to come. Says one of the many addicts in the city, who will remain anonymous.

– Many people sleep here in the container or find a way to sleep.

In September, Nav employees in Tromsø raised the alarm about the situation of the homeless. They feared that people could freeze to death.

The municipality has now installed a house at night. The problem is that this message has not reached those who really need it.

– I hadn’t heard of this until now, the addict tells the NRK reporter.

Homeless at night for a year and a half

The municipality has been without a night house since a resident in 2019 set fire to his apartment in the old night house at Grønnegata 103 in Tromsø city center. The building was badly damaged.

In reality, the building was supposed to be completely restored this fall, but an insurance case has led to a delay in work. Therefore, Grønnegata 103 will not be completed until 2021.

Two weeks ago, the municipality opened the doors to a new nighttime home.

Geir Jakobsen is the head of Nav in Tromsø. It was his own employees who sounded the alarm about the situation of the homeless in the city. He is happy that the offer of a house for the night is now back in place.

– In the situation in which we find ourselves now, this will be a security for the population. It will also be a security for us who work with these people, to know that they have a warm place to be until the next day, he says.

Nav had several examples where the homeless had to be turned away due to a lack of offers.

– This is an important measure for us to avoid people getting into a situation where they have to go out at night, says Jakobsen.

It was in Tromsø that the case was first mentioned.

A warm place to be

The new night house has six beds in three rooms.

It is the live team that has the night at home going. The life team is made up of people from the Housing Office, the mental health and substance abuse unit and supervisors from Nav.

– Users come here, ring the bell and say they need a place to stay tonight. Here they dine, a chance to shower, a clean bed and linens.

That’s what Karin-Maria Vårtun, who is Nav’s life team supervisor, says.

– We have a security service that is here from the time it opens at 20 in the afternoon until it closes at 9 in the morning, he says.

Those who need a place to sleep can stay three nights in the night shelter. Then they have time to apply for temporary housing with Nav.

– Necessary to have a night at home

Municipalities are not required by law to have an offer of overnight accommodation.

– But we already see that we have a completely different pressure on temporary housing now that we have a house at night. We see that it is important to have both parties in place, says Kirsti Moslett Thunberg to iTromsø. She is the leader of the welfare, work and inclusion section in the municipality of Tromsø.

For NRK, he emphasizes that they should have this offer because Grønnegata 103 is ready.

The night house is 6 kilometers from the city center, but Karin-Maria Vårtun in Nav believes that good bus connections help.

– The bus goes directly here from the city center, and we provide information on at which bus stop they should get off, he says.

The junkie NRK has spoken to is happy with the location of the night house.

– The municipality tends to place these types of offers far from the center. And you don’t always have money to move. So it is very good that this house at night is closer to the city, he says.