Residents in Oslo municipal homes again left without laundry facilities

Residents of municipal homes at Stovner senter in northeast Oslo have been without a washing machine since 7 June and do not know when the problem will be fixed, Dagbladet reports.

The laundry basement is closed while asbestos, a potentially hazardous material, is removed.

“We are desperate. We cannot wash our clothes,” 86 year old resident Bjørg Borgerud told Dagbladet.

The residents say it is not the first time problems in the homes, which Oslo municipality rents to disadvantaged people, have lasted for months without clear information.

Two years ago, the building’s lift was out of service for several months. Residents repeatedly reported safety concerns but say they received no concrete answers from Boligbygg, the municipal housing company responsible for the buildings.

“This is the second summer when a problem has lasted a very long time without information,” said Ida Kristine Gundersen, 32.

“We are only told to send emails and call. First they said it would be finished in July, then August, and now they say they do not know,” she said.

The residents have been told to use the laundry room in a neighbouring building. It has only three washing machines for around 100 residents, who say the facility is difficult to use.

“The machine runs around the clock. And you cannot leave your clothes, because they will be stolen,” said Dag Børre Marthinsen, 67.

Residents also say that older people, sick people and children live next door to people with serious substance use and psychiatric problems. Dagbladet has previously reported on drug dealing, arson and break ins in the buildings.

Although conditions have improved in some respects, the residents say they feel left to deal with problems such as the closed laundry room themselves.

“There is poor information. They have a duty to inform the residents,” Marthinsen said.

Boligbygg told Dagbladet that the buildings at Stovner are a priority project but provided no estimate for when the laundry room will reopen.

“The asbestos removal work is continuing, and the laundry basement will be opened as soon as the work is complete,” Harald Wisløff, communications director at Boligbygg, wrote in an email.

He said the bathrooms in all the apartments are to be renovated and that the asbestos was discovered during that work.

“We genuinely care about our tenants and are doing everything we can with the funds we have to ensure safe and good homes. If the tenants feel they have not received sufficient information, we naturally apologise,” Wisløff wrote.

Ola Wolff Elvevold, acting group leader for Oslo’s Socialist Left Party, said the residents’ accounts were disturbing.

“It makes an impression to read these stories. This is outrageous treatment of people asking for something quite basic,” he said.

Elvevold said residents should be able to expect clearer answers and criticised Oslo’s Conservative led city government.

“I do not think this is about someone in an agency not caring, but about several years of significant underfunding,” he said.

Boligbygg requested 600 million kroner a year to address the maintenance backlog in the municipal homes, but received just over half that amount, 350 million kroner, in this year’s budget.

In a letter to the city government last October, Boligbygg expressed concern that it had not received additional funding to cover higher operating costs linked to changes in the resident population, heavier use and increased unrest in the housing environment.

Elvevold said the city government and the responsible district authorities must take responsibility and explain why the problems can continue year after year. He said the Socialist Left Party’s alternative budget would allocate an additional 235 million kroner to buying and building municipal homes in Oslo.

“This is not a natural disaster. It is a political choice when people say it is fine for the municipal homes and Boligbygg to be starved of funds. This is both upsetting and undignified,” he said.