The housing shortage is affecting specific industries, with the restaurant sector particularly hard hit as many homes are rented to tourists, Almlid said. Grete Wilsgaard, chair of staffing agency Jobzone, told NRK Troms og Finnmark that her company is somewhat better at securing housing for employees than many others, but many workers end up in temporary solutions longer than planned due to the shortage. According to Wilsgaard, there are far too few homes overall in Tromsø and housing construction has stopped.
Almlid said it must become easier to build homes and requirements for new builds should be lowered, otherwise northern Norway will lose necessary labor. He noted similar conditions exist in Bergen, where high requirements for housing projects drive up prices. It is especially difficult for young people to enter the housing market, Almlid added. Wilsgaard described a great need for both family homes and single rooms for workers coming to the city.
That we as a company rent out makes us more attractive than individuals, we have understood.
There are far too few homes overall in Tromsø, and housing construction has stopped.
We really need more homes. Both family homes and single rooms. We don't have enough hands locally, or in Norway generally. We are dependent on people coming here and doing jobs we don't have enough people to do ourselves.
Then we are forced to be able to offer housing to them. And that is challenging now.