– We fear people will freeze to death – NRK Troms and Finnmark – Local news, TV and radio

– Not well. It shouldn’t work in Norway, says Judith Maan, acting director of Nav Tromsø’s social department.

The Tromsø department must process 40-60 applications for temporary homeless accommodation at any given time. When winter comes, expect an increase in the number of applications.

– We have examples in which we have to decline because we do not have an adapted or available offer. We fear lives will be lost this winter.

After the Grønnegata 103 fire, there is no overnight shelter in Tromsø municipality. At the same time, more and more people are left homeless in the municipality. Now Maan fears that Nav will face a winter without an offer of a roof over their heads.

– We fear that people will freeze to death. We don’t always know where they are going. They may be going all the time to keep warm.

– The situation is terrible

Nav Tromsø has seen an increase in various groups needing housing, especially among the elderly and young.

– There are often people with substance abuse problems, but we also see people of foreign origin, pregnant women and families with children, says Judith Maan.

Also, Nav sees multiple people in temporary dwellings.

– The law says that in principle it should be limited to a maximum of three months, but we have several people who have lived in temporary housing for 20 months.

Vidar Hårvik works for Marborg, a user organization in the field of intoxicants that, among other things, offers drug-free homes to people with all kinds of intoxication problems. Share Nav’s concern.

– The situation is terrible. People live on the sofa in the houses or sleep outside because there is a shortage of emergency housing. The limit has been reached and the municipality must build more houses.

It also emphasizes that the municipality should improve in the maintenance of the houses.

– That’s why we ended up in this situation. Nothing new has been built and the maintenance is too poor. It takes too long from demolishing something to rebuilding it, says Hårvik.

Asbjørn Larsen from Rusmisbrukerne Interesseorganisasjon (RIO) agrees with Hårvik.

– Many feel that they do not see or hear them. We are in a vicious circle and now the municipality must do something rather quickly. Tromsø is not made for living outdoors, it will be very cold, says Larsen.

The 2019/2020 winter season set several snow records in Northern Norway.

Ask politicians to act

Tromsø is known for having an expensive property market, and Maan believes this is one of the reasons why it is difficult to find a home in Tromsø.

– We need housing within the economy that people have available. We see that when rental prices in the private housing market are so high, it will mean that those who enter the private housing market will in many cases still have to receive financial benefits through Nav, says Judith Maan of Nav.

It emphasizes that there must be houses that adapt to the user group in which an increase is seen and that there must be houses that are adapted in price.

– We have a severe housing shortage, so it needs to be implemented fairly quickly, says Maan.

Margrethe Kristiansen is the head of the Health and Care section in Tromsø municipality and says the municipality takes this very seriously.

– We are looking for temporary locations for houses at night for the winter. In addition, we are renovating several temporary homes that we can rent, we also rent a series of hotel rooms for those who need it. The long-term plan is to build more houses.

Kristiansen says that it is unfortunate that Tromsø municipality has inhabitants who do not have a roof over their heads.

– Fortunately, it is rare that we are in this situation, because usually you find a temporary solution.

Grønnegata 103 will be renovated into a night house, but according to Kristiansen, the work will take a long time.

– It is an insurance case related to the fire that has been put out, it is a pity that we have not been able to use the house. We want it finished as soon as possible, but it probably won’t be finished this winter, says Margrethe Kristiansen.