Suchergebnisse

The subject of this report concerns a study to determine how much the public know about the legal dos and donö''ts in the rental market. Norwayö''s housing policy seeks primarily to ensure everybody has a chance to obtain good, dependable housing. A good place to live and a pleasing neighbourhood come with material, legal, economic and social factors connected with the property and residential area. One of the main strategies employed by the government to achieve this goal involves promoting a well-functioning sales and rental market. The degree of security people enjoy in their living arrangements depends mainly on economic and legal factors. In the legal sense, security is achieved by way of adequate legislation and a judicial system capable of upholding the rights of residents. But the intentions of the legislature and society can not be translated into practice unless the various parties in the housing market are familiar with the relevant statutes and provisions. This is particularly the case in the rental market. Because of the structural nature of the Norwegian rental market, the authorities are faced with particular challenges to identify what people need to know about the provisions in the Tenancy Act, and get the message across. Both the supply and demand sides of the Norwegian rental market are unusual inasmuch as private individuals do most of the supplying, either by letting space in their own home (frequently a basement flat), or a second home if they own one. About 20 per cent of Norwayö''s population aged 15-60 report having let property at some time. The percentage rises with age, with 30 per cent of individuals aged 50 and over having let property. About 20 per cent of Norwegian households (in absolute numbers, that is about 400,000 households) occupy rented property. Earlier studies have shown, however, that the rental market is increasingly the province of people going through periods of change or instability, such as young adults starting a family or people involved in separations following the break down of a relationship. This way of using the rental market means that most people in Norway have lived in rented accommodation at least once in their lives. Indeed, as much as 75 per cent of people aged 20-60 say they either live in rented property at the moment or have done so previously. An Internet-based questionnaire was used to gather the data. Respondents were asked to say whether they believed assertions about different aspects of the Tenancy Act were right or wrong. The areas of the Act we chose to concentrated on were selected together with officials from the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. The sample counted 805 persons aged 15-60. Given the low number of "donö''t knowö'» answers, it appears that most people feel they know something about the provisions of the Act. The "donö''t knowö'» box remained unticked by almost half of the sample whatever the statement they were asked to consider; and about 90 per cent felt they knew the correct answer to half or more of the statements. The area of greatest uncertainty were related to the following points: the right of landlords to demand rent in advance; whether the statutes specify a minimum period rental agreements for a specified time must adhere to; and time limits and procedures involved in the termination of tenancy agreements. We also found that younger respondents still residing at home with their parents were significantly more likely to feel uncertain than the sample in general. For this reason, we excluded this group from the subsequent analyses. The areas about which people appear to be most familiar are the scope of the law, and the general provisions relating to tenancy agreements (contracts). To take an example, 80 per cent know that the Act applies to both non commercial and commercial landlords alike, and the letting of accommodation in private homes. Over 70 per cent know that tenants have aright to demand a written agreement if they so desire. The provisions people tend to know less about - i.e. where fewer respondents give the right answer and more the wrong answer - relate to agreement termination procedures; minimum legal tenancy period; and the right of landlords to insist on both a deposit and a guarantee (security) for rent owed. More than half believe, for instance, that the law is silent about the minimum period a tenancy agreement is legally valid, and only 30 per cent know that landlords are within their rights to demand both a deposit and a guarantee. Generally speaking then, it seems slightly alarming that the public are ignorant about such important aspects of tenancy agreement law. No group stands out with either superior or inferior knowledge. That said, young tenants over 20 do tend to have a better grasp of the details of the law than other groups. While the need for information on the Act and its various provisions varies according to subject area, there are significant gaps in certain major areas. The survey asked respondents where they would go for information about their rights under the Tenancy Act. Responses highlighted the Internet, National Association of Home Owners and Tenantö''s Organization. There are significant age-related differences, here, however. Older people are more likely to call the Home Ownersö'' Association, the Tenantö''s Organization or the regional offices of the Consumer Council of Norway, while younger respondents are more likely to prefer informal routes such as Internet searches or asking the advice of friends or work colleagues who know more than themselves. ; Husleieloven legger de legale rammene for all leie/utleie av boliger. For at lovens intensjoner skal realiseres er det av avgjørende betydning at partene på leiemarkedet kjenner til loven og dens bestemmelser. Rapporten presenterer resultatene fra en kartleggingsundersøkelse av befolkningens kjennskap til husleieloven. Undersøkelsen viser at det er store forskjeller mellom enkelte bestemmelser med hensyn til hvor godt de er kjent. Folk er best informert om hvilke leieforhold loven gjelder for. De er imidlertid dårlig informert når det gjelder viktige bestemmelser omkring oppsigelsesprosedyrer, regler for tidsbegrensede leieavtaler og utleiers rett til å kreve depositum og garanti.Undersøkelsen viser også at det er til dels store forskjeller i befolkningen med hensyn til hvor godt kjent lovens ulike bestemmelser er. Det er en gjennomgående tendens til at unge med leieboererfaring er best informert om loven. De unge skiller seg også ut ved at de i større grad enn eldre vil søke informasjon om loven hos venner og kolleger og ved å bruke internett.

This report presents results from a project that NOVA has carried out in collaboration with Fafo on behalf of the Norwegian State Housing Bank. The purpose of the project is to provide new and updated knowledge about developments that may affect the Norwegian housing market in the coming years. The analyses in this report are based primarily on the survey EU- SILC 2012, with attached register data from 2011. EU-SILC 2012 contains a module with questions about housing conditions. In addition, we have used register data on migrant workers' movement between municipalities in Norway, and information from the Population and Housing Census 2011. The report can be read as an update of previous reviews of the EU-SILC surveys in Norway with additional modules on housing conditions (1997, 2001, 2004 and 2007), but we also present new topics and analysis. We represent the results as an anthology with independent chapters. The introductory chapter provides a context for the findings in the rest of the report, by presenting figures for the number of dwellings in Norway, some aspects of housing policy including the emergence of social housing as a priority in welfare policy, and some figures on population trends. It is emphasized in the chapter that the population in Norway is increasing, much as a result of labour migration. Consequently, the number of occupied dwellings and housing prices increase. At the same time the population ages, which increases the demand for universal access in housing. The theme of the first article is housing standards and accessibility in 2012. A main conclusion from this review is that the housing stock changes slowly, so that the results resemble those from the similar review of EU-SILC 2007. By far the most common type of house in Norway is single dwelling, while just under a quarter of all households live in an apartment or townhouse. There is also stability in housing sizes. Most respondents (58 per cent) live in homes with three to five rooms (the figure in 2007 was 60 per cent). There has been no increase in the number of households living in small homes, just under 20 percent of households live in dwellings with one or two rooms. 7 per cent of Norwegian households are overcrowded by the broadest objective definition, and a clear majority says that their residence has "just the right size". Moving is far more common among the youngest age groups, and is also common among people with short periods of residence in Norway. This indicates a pattern where young adult move several times before they eventually find a home to grow old in. Relatively few say they are experiencing problems with their housing or immediate neighbourhood. The problem mentioned most often is noise: 12 percent report that they experience noise from road traffic or neighbours while indoors in their own home. The final issue discussed in this chapter is housing conditions for people with disabilities. About a third of all homes have no physical barriers that prevent disabled people from entering, and 38 percent have all rooms located on the entry level. This is a higher proportion than what was found in 2007. In the second article, the topic is housing expenses. High relative housing expenses is defined as housing expenses in excess of 25 percent of total income. Comparison with data from the late 1990s suggests that the proportions experiencing this problem are very stable over time. Young households have high housing expenses, while older households have low housing expenses. Furthermore, it is especially singles and single parents who have high relative housing expenses. We find high relative housing expenses among households living in Oslo and Akershus, compared to the rest of the country. These patterns were also found in 2007. The chapter also presents some figures for indebtedness. We take the recommendation that the debt should not exceed three times the total income as a starting point. We see that the proportion of households with a mortgage of more than 3 times their gross income decreases with age. Among 20 -year-olds more than every fourth household have such debt burdens, while the same is true for just fewer than one in five households among 30 year olds. Article three is about the rental market. Most Norwegians visit the rental market one or more times during their life. The rental market is often used in transitional periods of life, such as in education, periods with temporary employment, and immediately after family breakup. The rental sector is also important for those who do not want to, or for various reasons are unable to, buy their own home. The typical tenant is a young and single person with low incomes. Renting contracts are largely short term. Tenants tend to have short residence time and many have plans to move. The probability of remaining a tenant however increases with increasing time in the rental market. The Norwegian rental market is dominated by private hire, and there are relatively few institutional landlords. This gives the Norwegian rental market an informal character with a lack of transparency, which can make it difficult for vulnerable groups to get a foothold in this market. The informal structure of the rental sector also makes it challenging to implement legal regulations. In the fourth article we look specifically at older households' housing situation. The elderly are less mobile in the housing market than younger people. Despite this, more than every tenth household where the reference person is 67 years or older changed residence in the last five years before the interview. The proportions that have moved in old age can still be higher, since five years is a relatively short measurement period - especially for the oldest old. Many seniors live in a home that is specially adapted for a household member with disabilities, but there is also a significant proportion who does not live in such housing and who feel they ought to have a special arrangement of the dwelling. This is reported by approximately every tenth household where the reference person is 67 years or older. In this study, we use two definitions of vulnerability in the housing market: (1) Individuals and households who have low income and live in unsuitable dwellings, and (2) those who are disadvantaged by definition 1, or have low incomes and at the same time high relative housing costs. Their situation is the topic of the fifth article. We find that 7 per cent of the respondents are vulnerable by definition 1, while 12 per cent come across as vulnerable if we rely on definition 2. Whichever of these two definitions we rely on, the same groups come across as most likely to be vulnerable: those most at risk are young adults and single parents, and there is also a high percentage of tenants among the vulnerable. In the sixth and final article, we seek to identify mobility patterns among immigrants in Norway. This article uses a different data set, namely registry data on all residents in Norway. We measure moving as change of municipality of residence from one year to another, which means that we only look at the moving patterns of people who have stayed in Norway for at least two consecutive years in the period under investigation. The total number of transfers between municipalities was slightly lower in 2009-2010 than in 2005-2006. This is mainly because Norwegians moved less. Immigrants' higher proportion of movements, and the fact that the proportion of immigrants had increased in the period, explains why the number of relocations were not further reduced. In 2006, the immigrants were responsible for 16 percent of all relocations, and this percentage increased to 22 percent in 2010. All immigrant groups are more likely to move between municipalities in their first years in Norway. Immigrants from countries in Asia and Africa have the highest propensity to move to Oslo and Akershus, while migrant workers from the European Economic Area also move to other regional centres in Rogaland ( Stavanger), Hordaland (Bergen ) or Sør-Trøndelag (Trondheim). The main results of the articles are summarized in the final chapter. The results are discussed in light of the social changes that are presented in the introductory chapter, and it is pointed out how the results can be seen in the context of policy making. Major changes in the size and composition of the population affect the demand for housing. Which dwellings are available, and the price levels in the housing market, influences the expectations and opportunities individual households have on this market. A central challenge in housing policies is to ascertain to what extent the housing market balances supply and demand in a satisfactory manner so that measures to correct undesirable outcomes may be applied. Analyses of living conditions, including housing conditions, based on surveys such as EU-SILC is an important source of information in this context, but should be complemented and combined with information from other data sources. Surveys often underestimate the number of disadvantaged people in the housing market, and thus provide unreliable information about the processes that lead into, and out of, difficult positions with regard to housing. ; Tidligere har bolig vært tema for Statistisk sentralbyrås levekårsundersøkelser i 1997, 2001, 2004 og 2007. I 2012 ble boforhold innlemmet som en nasjonal modul i EU-SILC. På oppdrag fra Husbanken har NOVA i samarbeid med Fafo analysert data fra sistnevnte undersøkelse. Rapporten gir en tilstandsrapport om boforholdene i Norge i 2012, og kan leses som en oppdatering av lignende studier som NOVA har gjennomført på bakgrunn levekårsanalysene tidligere. Denne rapporten inneholder artikler om boligstandard og tilgjengelighet, boutgifter og boutgiftsbelastning, leiemarkedet, eldres boligsituasjon, vanskeligstiltes situasjon på boligmarkedet og flyttemønstre blant arbeidsinnvandrere. Artiklene er skrevet av Anne Hege Strand, Anne Skevik Grødem, Roy A. Nielsen og Hans Christian Sandlie.

The social housing field can be characterized as fragmented. Firstly, the responsibility for different elements of social housing policy is often divided across multiple administrative units. Secondly, the social housing measures include a wide range of services geared towards diverse user groups. For instance, services like municipal housing, state and municipal housing allowance, housing grants and mortgages and in-kind housing services are accessible for the elderly, homeless people, disadvantaged households and refugee households, who have different needs in terms of housing. Social housing measures are therefore difficult to isolate from each other – they inevitably interact with many other initiatives. The main purpose of this report is to provide a better insight into and understanding of what processes promote or hamper the management of social housing in a municipality. We base our findings on an exploratory case study of four selected municipalities. Our analysis provides no basis for recommending one organizational model over another or for recommending an exhaustive list of measures local authorities should take when they plan or redesign their social housing efforts. The organization and planning of social housing must be adapted to the local situation. Municipalities should therefore prepare strategic plans based on their particular social housing challenges and tailor the corresponding solutions. The main challenge within the area of social housing is to establish an organizational structure with well-defined responsibilities and guidelines for the implementation of various tasks. This requires that the municipalities formulate operational goals and ambitions. Preparing a housing policy plan will be of great importance – both to articulate the objectives of the local housing policy and to allocate responsibilities for the implementation of different measures. Our findings suggest that the responsibility for this strategic work should be centralized and placed at the strategic level in the municipal organization. The task force should be given a real mandate to develop, implement and evaluate the various social housing initiatives and working practices. Realization of plans will require adequate funding in annual budgets. It is therefore important that the political level is involved early in the preparation of plans. This may help clarify the plan's strategic basis. Furthermore, this could facilitate the inclusion of housing policy in other municipal governance documents. ; Det boligsosiale feltet er et fragmentert felt. Boligsosiale tiltak involverer mange ulike tjenestefelt og de tilgodeser mange kategorier av brukere. For kommunene innebærer dette koordineringsutfordringer av både strategisk og operativ art. I denne studien er det de strategiske utfordringene som er vektlagt: Hvordan kan kommunene overvinne utfordringene knyttet til å etablere en horisontal (mellom ulike tjenesteenheter) og vertikal samordning (mellom ulike forvaltningsnivå) av den boligsosiale virksomheten? I rapporten redegjøres det for hvordan fire utvalgte kommuner har forsøkt å etablere en helhetlig og tverrfaglig tilnærming til de boligsosiale utfordringene. Studien har hatt en eksplorerende karakter. Det primære formålet med undersøkelsen har vært å få en bedre innsikt i og forståelse av hva som kan fremme og hemme styringen av det boligsosiale arbeidet i en kommune.

One of the major goals in Norwegian education policy is to improve the completion rate in upper secondary education. In 2011 the Government initiated a large-scale three-year effort – Ny GIV. The overarching goal is to increase the proportion of young people who successfully complete secondary education to 75 percent by 2015 (from 69 percent in 2010). The effort comprises three major sub-projects: 1) "Statistikkprosjektet", aiming at the development of a common database and statistical indicators to assess the extent to which the overarching objectives are obtained, 2) "Overgangsprosjektet", targeting young people at the end of lower secondary school who are at risk of not attending or completing upper secondary education and 3) "Oppfølgingsprosjektet" targeting young people aged 15-21 years who are neither in of education or employment. NOVA has been commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Research to evaluate the latter project, Oppfølgingsprosjektet, during the school years 2012/13 and 2013/14. The overall objective of the evaluation project is to examine the extent to which the project contributes to achieving the main goal in Ny GIV. The work in the counties will be assessed on the basis of the national and common priorities, which are: 1) Testing of training models that combine work experience with learning objectives in upper secondary school, 2) Strengthening of cooperation between the actors (the counties, NAV, schools etc) responsible for the follow-up of young people neither in employment or education, and 3) Skills training for employees working in the counties or the Norwegian welfare and labour service (NAV). This is the first report of the evaluation project and includes data from the school year 2012/13. The report gives an overview of new and previously implemented measures directed at the target group for Oppfølgingsprosjektet. The report also provides answers to how employees in the counties and NAV and school leaders experience both the effort of and the cooperation between relevant actors in the field. In addition, the report provides a picture of how young people are experiencing the measures they participate in and how a continuing education implemented within the framework of Oppfølgingsprosjektet work. The results from this report will later be updated for the school year 2013/14 and by the end of 2014, we will provide an overall assessment of how Oppfølgingsprosjektet has worked. The preliminary findings from this first part of the evaluation are as follows: - There is an extensive range of measures directed at youth who are neither in education or employment. In line with the overall goal of Oppfølgingsprosjektet, a large number of the initiated measures aim at raising young people's formal qualifications. About 30 percent of all measures combine educational learning objectives and work practices. It is still to early to conclude whether the extent of such combined measures has increased during the period of Oppfølgingsprosjektet. - By far, most of the measures are organized in collaboration between several actors. Actors involved in such cooperation usually are Oppfølgingstjenesten, administered by the counties, and NAV. The staffs of the two agencies are largely satisfied with how the partnership works - both in terms of planning actions and the guidance and supervision of youth. - So far, Oppfølgingsprosjektet has probably had its greatest impact at the cooperational level, affecting how and to which extent the major agencies involved in the different efforts to prevent young people dropping out of upper secondary school collaborate. This point is fairly unanimous in the assessment of employees in both the follow-up services, OT and NAV, and also appears in the evaluation of the training for employees working in the counties or NAV. ; I 2011 igangsatte Regjeringen Ny GIV, et treårig prosjekt for å øke gjennomføringen i videregående opplæring. Oppfølgingsprosjektet er ett av satsingsområdene, der målet er å styrke innsatsen overfor ungdom som er i ferd med å slutte, eller har sluttet, i videregående. Dette skal dels skje gjennom å prøve ut opplæringsmodeller som kombinerer arbeidspraksis med læreplanmål i videregående, dels gjennom et styrket samarbeid mellom de ulike aktørene som har ansvar for målgruppa. Det er også et mål å utvikle kompetansen til de ansatte. Denne underveisrapporten er basert på en kartlegging av igangsatte tiltak overfor målgruppa for Oppfølgingsprosjektet. Kartleggingen omfatter også hvordan skoleledere og ansatte i Oppfølgingstjenesten og NAV opplever samarbeidsrelasjonene og innsatsen som er rettet mot målgruppa. I tillegg gir rapporten et bilde av hvordan ungdom opplever tiltakene de deltar i, og hvordan videreutdanningstilbudet som er igangsatt innenfor rammene av Ny GIV, fungerer.

This research report addresses the challenges of housing provision in light of the ageing society. The proportion of the population over 70 years old may increase from 9 per cent to 19 per cent between 2016 and 2060, according to Statistics Norway. The challenges and conundrums related to this demographic transition motivates the main research questions of the report: Within the theoretical framework of welfare economics, what are the normative arguments for a specific housing policy directed at the elderly? How do Norwegian municipalities attempt to influence housing construction in light of the ageing society? How wide is their scope of action in the field of housing policy for the elderly? To what extent do seniors (55+) and the elderly strategically adapt their housing to the inevitable reality of ageing, for instance, by moving to modern and more accessible apartments or adapting their existing home to the challenges associated with old age? This is an important question, not least since strategic investments from the elderly themselves may contribute to a more efficient provision of municipal care and health services. How can the municipalities and the state contribute to strengthening the opportunities of older people to invest in housing alternatives adapted to the realities of old age? The report «Housing for the elderly. Housing markets and housing policies for an ageing society» consists of four interlinked studies: Municipal housing policy for an ageing society (J. Sørvoll) Policy instruments and economic theory. Normative arguments in defense of a housing policy directed at the elderly? (V. Nordvik). The housing wealth and housing preferences of seniors and the elderly (H. C. Sandlie & L. Gulbrandsen) Policy instruments and the elderly's incentives for housing investment (J. Sørvoll). In part one of the report, we analyze municipal housing policies directed at the elderly, on the basis of an empirical material consisting of qualitative interviews in six municipalities and policy plans from 89 local governments. We argue that many municipalities lack the knowledge and the competence to execute an informed housing policy adapted to an ageing society. In general, moreover, it seems that housing policy directed at the elderly is not prioritized in the vast majority of municipalities. On a more positive note, from the perspective of Norwegian authorities, the six municipalities analyzed in-depth in part 1 all acknowledge the importance of housing policy for the gradual adaptation of the Norwegian welfare state to the ageing society. Many have considered employing policy instruments that would seriously expand the municipalities' influence over the provision of housing for the elderly. This may indicate that one should follow the field of housing for the elderly closely for new developments in the coming years. Part two of the report is an attempt to provide a systematic overview of arguments for social policy interventions in the form of in-kind housing interventions. We confront these arguments with housing needs emerging over the processes of ageing. The discussions are related to challenges and debates concerning housing for the elderly in Norway. In the absence of externalities and market failure, well-informed agents choose among available combinations of consumption goods. The outcomes of these choices are superior in terms of providing the combination of goods and services an agent herself prefers. This is the core of the principle of consumer sovereignty. James Tobin has forcefully demonstrated both the intuition of the concept consumer sovereignty and part of the explanation that it is not universally embraced in discussions of specific support as e.g. housing for elderly: While concerned laymen who observe people with shabby housing or too little to eat instinctively want to provide them with decent housing and adequate food, economists instinctively want to provide them with more cash income. Then they can buy the housing and food if they want to, and if they choose not to, the presumption is that they have a better use for the money (Tobin, 1970:246). Starting from this point of departure we argue that externalities feeding into need, costs and efficiency in provision of health care and practical help to elderly provide a sufficient argument for housing specific interventions, e.g. in order to improve physical accessibility (Universal design). Moreover, we argue that informational asymmetries and depreciated agency should be considered seriously when formulating a housing policy for the elderly. In part three, we analyse the housing conditions, housing wealth and housing preferences of the elderly in Norway. Based on a survey conducted in cooperation with TNS Gallup (2016), Sandlie and Gulbrandsen find that very few people aged from 50 to 71 years old have made improvements on their current dwelling. Most people (about 3 out of 4) do not plan to carry out such adjustments to their current dwelling. However, moving homes seems to be a more widespread strategy for adjusting housing for old age. About 20 percent of the people aged from 50 to 71 have moved during the last six years. The movers have to a large degree downsized and they live in smaller dwellings than non-movers. They do also live in more accessible housing than non-movers. Thus, Sandlie and Gulbrandsen argue that strategic mobility in light of old age is more common among middle aged and old people than previous research suggests. People adjust their housing for old age, but the adjustment and change of dwelling happen before they become old and pensioners. Part 4 on incentives for strategic housing investments draws on all the other parts of the report. In this part of the report, we try to answer one of the main research questions of the project "Housing for the elderly: How can the state contribute to increasing the incentives and opportunities for strategic housing investments by the elderly? In light of the findings of the report, Sørvoll argues that the authorities should emphasize provision of practical help and knowledge transmission to elderly households, housing policy for the elderly in areas with weak housing markets, and the need for the Housing Bank and the municipalities to continue refining the instruments of housing policy in light of the ageing society. ; Her drøftes tema av stor betydning for bolig- og omsorgspolitikken. Forskerne undersøker blant annet hva kommunene gjør for å fremme en boligforsyning som tar samfunnets aldring på alvor, og diskuterer normative premisser for eldreboligpolitikk. I tillegg analyseres utviklingen av eldres boligpreferanser, boligkapital og flyttemønstre over tid. Basert på en spørreundersøkelse via internett fra 2016 spør de i hvilken grad eldre og seniorer tilpasser sin boligsituasjon med tanke på alderdom. Dette er et viktig spørsmål all den tid kommunene kan spare penger på omsorgsboliger og institusjoner hvis flere kan bo lenger i eget hjem. Derfor diskuterer forskerne også hvordan det offentlige kan styrke mulighetene og insentivene til å investere i bolig med tanke på aldring.