Efling demands increased housing security and access to owned housing

Efling partners demand that the authorities ensure workers have safe access to owned housing and that housing be recognized as a human right, not an investment vehicle.

This is the basic tone in the resolution of Efling parliament, which was adopted on the last day of the parliament, 27 February last year. In the association's resolution, emphasis is placed on housing security being a fundamental prerequisite of welfare and that the current situation, where many live with insecurity and high costs, is unacceptable.

Among the main demands are strict rules against housing speculation, including increased taxation on more than three properties and restrictions on short‑term rentals. Union members also want to set limits on investors' purchases of residential housing and ensure that properties are used primarily by the country's residents.

Efling also demands a clear and funded government plan for the construction of about 4,000 apartments annually, in cooperation with municipalities, as well as ensuring sufficient land supply and removing planning obstacles.

There is a call for a more realistic payment assessment for housing loans, a reduction of interest rates and for limits to be set on real interest. Members also want municipalities to build apartments and sell them at cost price, that a portion of new construction be specifically intended for first-time buyers and that interest subsidies be increased.

The resolution in its entirety can be read here below.

Owner-occupied housing 

Housing security should be a cornerstone of workers' welfare. The home is the place where workers recover their strength after a hard workday. The home is the family's refuge, where child-rearing and the cultivation of relationships take place. The home is part of a broader community – multi‑family housing, street, neighborhood – which is connected to the kindergarten, the primary school, the sports club, the swimming pool and social life. Feeling good at home and knowing that it is a safe haven for the future is immensely valuable. Children who experience rootlessness carry that with them into the future, which can lead to school dropout, disorder and social problems. 

Covering one's head should not be a source of anxiety, insecurity and discomfort or lead to incapacity for work because of these causes. Workers should not have to fear occasional housing relocations, that the residence depends on the mental state of the rental market, that children repeatedly have to change schools and friend groups, or that housing costs suddenly rise making it difficult to afford basic necessities. 

It is a demand of the Efling unions that the Icelandic state ensure workers who have permanent residence in Iceland secure access to owner-occupied housing. Such should not only be a privilege of the middle class and those who receive housing support as an inheritance. 

Efling members make the following demands of the Icelandic authorities regarding owner-occupied housing: 

• Housing is a human right, not a profit commodity. Strict rules must be set at all levels to combat housing speculation, e.g., by raising property taxes after the third property except for non-profit rental companies and the allocation of residential housing for profit-driven short-term rentals. 
• Inadequate residential housing, which already exists, should be used by the people of the country first and foremost, and this should be ensured with rules that work and incentives that deliver results. Significant barriers should be placed on the capacity of capital owners to purchase apartments in the green shade. Whoever buys an apartment in Iceland must be a taxpayer in Iceland. 
• According to the Housing and Infrastructure Agency, about four thousand dwellings need to be built per year over the next decade. The government must put together a timed and funded plan for increasing housing and work on it in cooperation with the municipalities and tenant associations so that consideration is given to the residents who live there. It must be ensured that land offers are available and planning obstacles are removed. Such a plan must be realistic and based on the best possible forecasts of population development over the next decades. New housing must be built in a human- and family-friendly manner. Set deadlines for the utilization of plots after the building rights have been purchased. The state should monitor that the regulations are complied with.
• Housing loans are an inevitable accompaniment to acquiring housing. Efling unions want reasonable rules to be set regarding the implementation of payment assessment. Those who already truly face high rent payments should be able to obtain their assessed payment capacity. The payment assessment should be based on reality rather than on preset criteria. 
• The current high inflation policy is unbearable. There is great disappointment that the government's promise of interest rate cuts has turned into an expanding interest balloon that will burst if anything. The government needs to put together a realistic, timed and detailed plan on how to bring down inflation and get out of the high inflation environment in the next 2-6 years. Efling members support that the parties of the labor market come to such a plan, as it ultimately aims to protect interests and improve the position of workers in Iceland. Set limits on how much real interest the bank can take from mortgage loans. 
• It must be ensured that a sufficiently large proportion of newly built residential housing is allocated to first-time buyers and workers.
• Municipalities build apartments to sell them at cost price. 
• Rules on interest compensation need to be expanded. 

Efling unions also make the demand to the Gildis pension fund that it act within the pension fund system in the interest of more favorable housing loans for fund members.