“Housing is a matter of destiny and a key issue”

The housing shortage in Norrbotten is not just a question of industrial establishments – already today half of Norrbotten's municipalities have a housing deficit. – We need all stakeholders to go home and think about how they can contribute to getting construction cranes in place. Where can we meet and collaborate?, asked Frida Berglund, head of social transition in Luleå, at the Business Arena trade fair in Umeå.

For the second time, our company Invest in Norrbotten offered an opportunity for several actors in Norrbotten to participate in the construction and property fair Business Arena, as part of a joint initiative. The booth included Region Norrbotten, Invest in Norrbotten, the County Administrative Board of Norrbotten and the municipalities of Luleå, Gällivare, Boden, Pajala, Piteå, Överkalix and Älvsbyn.

Mikael Aamisepp, CEO of Invest in Norrbotten, sees great value in several actors participating together under a common Norrbotten umbrella.

– The housing need is common, for all of Norrbotten's municipalities on different scales. Then there is a more united force and there are also more contact points with those we want to reach. The fact that places like Business Arena concentrate all the interesting actors in one day makes it easier to work. Plus we learn a lot, we learn from other municipalities that we meet, from other regions, if they have found solutions that we don't have, he says.

Mikael Aamisepp, CEO of Invest in Norrbotten, sees innovative thinking and new ways of working as crucial to achieving more housing in Norrbotten.

Some of the participants from Norrbotten also took part in the many seminars that were arranged. One of them was Frida Berglund, Head of Community Transformation in Luleå. She emphasized the importance of cooperation and achieving a long-term sustainable housing market.

– What we would like to see is that we decide together that we will now succeed in creating sustainable social development. Everyone needs to tweak their business models or processes, what can each party do to take steps forward much faster than we are doing today?

She talked about how contractor housing is necessary to protect the regular housing market in the county, but is otherwise skeptical of temporary housing.

– We need to solve the housing issue itself in a way that enables a good life in the long term. We need good residential areas with the range you need. We will need a mix of housing, but the goal for us is permanent housing for a growing population. A housing market that is stable over time and secures the housing supply in these municipalities.

“Very easy mathematics”

The housing shortage is a bottleneck for the industrial transition and the skills supply it requires. Until 2030, the needs are estimated to be greatest in Gällivare and Boden, followed by Luleå and Kiruna. Over 10 new homes are needed until 000, just to meet the needs resulting from eight industrial investments in Norrbotten.

– Without housing, no move-in, it's really easy math. It's a matter of fate and a key issue for making our country grow and live. If we don't create attractive living environments, we will have fly-in-fly-out personnel, says Gunnar Tåhlin, Galären i Luleå AB, in connection with another panel discussion.

Gunnar Thålin sees great potential for northern Sweden, and went through a number of reasons why the country has a future for itself.

One of the municipalities with great needs, Gällivare, was represented at the stand by, among others, Nina Eliasson, Head of Administration for Urban Planning and Technology. She can see openings for collaborations around housing construction after the fair.

– There has been great interest. It was nice that partners for many years have shown interest in making more establishments. We have been able to connect with various construction companies that have interesting concepts that we would like to test in Gällivare. I look forward to continued contact and future collaboration there, she says.

Need for government involvement

Mikael Aamisepp is optimistic about the possibilities of accelerating housing construction in the county, but it will require both innovative thinking and government commitment.

– All actors who are in any way involved in bringing new housing to the site must think differently: financiers, banks, other types of funds. Norrlandsfonden's initiative, where they have received money from the government to be able to share risk, is a step in the right direction, but more financial incentives are needed from the state.

He sees that new ways of thinking are needed about everything from business models, building construction and planning processes.

– We cannot get new housing in Norrbotten the way we have always done. We cannot remain in the same old rut, because then nothing will happen.