a year with Gavlegårdarna

GAVLI’S SUMMER CAMPgiving more a better summer holiday

Would you like to livein a sweet factory?

Brynäs a suburb with soul and tradition

The big city of Gävle’s new housing market

4. Moving rapidly towards Gävle, the big city

6. Gavli’s Summer Camp

14. Green light for their first summer job

16. Gävle’s new housing market

21. Almvägen – the bright side of life

25. The suburbs are growing – and

things are growing in them

28. Meeting people creates comfort

and well-being

Contents

55

50

6

2 | 2014

30. Brynäs – loved, talked about, slandered

39. Brynäsgatan 35

43. Gavlegårdarna and the sweet factory

46. More and more are able to carry on

living in their own homes

48. 24 new leaders every year

49. Three homes, three styles

50. Alexandra got her dream flat

55. The Aliji family – keeping up the style

58. A pleasant home – for fifty years

62. Growing into a big city:

Gävle is taking shape

2521

3028

58

14

2014 | 3

be able to deal with this issue in the years to come, many players need to increase the rate at which they are building new homes.

The housing shortage has created changes in the housing market, of course. In 2014 we saw for the first time an increase in numbers that were not exactly positive. There were reports in the media of a robot that, in return for money, was able to push tenants forward in the queue when flats were released on “Direkten”, the market where flats are made available for people with no queue points. We are also dealing with a greater number of suspected and unappro-ved sublet flats than ever before at Gavlegårdarna.

In the big cities, people have got used to dealing with the consequen-ces brought on by a tough housing market. Last year, Gavlegårdarna was also forced to change its routines and working practices in order to

deal with the new local develop-ments. As a municipal housing company, we do our utmost to ensure that everyone feels secure in the knowledge that we have a fair and reliable queueing system. We will continue to work for this to the greatest degree possible.

The statistics from our Social Li-ving group show far more gratifying figures. The preventive work aimed at finding people with problems in good time and offering them help has produced incredible results. Far more people are paying their rent on time these days, thus avoiding the additional costs and other concerns that payment delays bring. And when more people pay on time the number of households that are sent collec-tion notices falls, as does the number of eviction proceedings that get underway. Here, the figures have fal-len significantly in just a few years, something that we are both very proud of and very grateful for.

When we were summarising the year 2013 in last year’s magazine, we were pleased to see that Gävle had grown. Now another year has passed and the figures are still positive. More than 5,000 people moved into our beautiful city during 2014, at the same time as 4,000 moved away. If this rate of population growth con-tinues, Gävle will become – for the first time in its history – a big city in 2016, because that’s when we will probably reach the magic number of 100,000 inhabitants.

This development affects Gavle-gårdarna as a municipal housing company in several ways. There are already 102,000 people in the queue for one of our flats. Even though “only” about 20,000 of those are actively looking for a new home, we didn’t have more than twenty or so flats coming onto the market each month during 2014. In plain langu-age, this means that Gävle already has a housing shortage. In order to

Moving rapidly towards Gävle, the big city

Our districts Gavlegårdarna has 15,165 different types of

accommodation in the Municipality of Gävle.

Most of our housing is in Gävle’s built-up area,

an area which includes the suburbs of Gävle

Strand, Öster, Brynäs, Bomhus, Andersberg,

Sätra, and Hagaström. There are also a few

districts where we have homes and commercial

properties in what we call Central Gävle.

Housing stock

Total area rented out

1,146,213m²

Short facts about Gavlegårdarna

2010 2011 2012 2013 201415, 000

15,100

15,200

15,300

15,400

15 500

15,16515,206 15,237 15,242 15,348

4 | 2014

EditorialIn order to give more people in Gävle the chance of finding their dream home, we must start building more new properties. Our owners, the Municipality of Gävle, have given us a clear directive as a municipal housing company, namely that we will have built a total of 500 new homes by the year 2017. We launched no fewer than 193 newly built and renovated flats onto the market during 2013. Ho-wever, 2014 was a period of planning and preparation instead, getting ready for the next phase of construction. During the year, just three flats were released onto the market, although a whole list of exciting projects got underway. You can read more about those elsewhere in this magazine.

In May 2014, it was also determined that Gavlegårdarna was to become a factory owner – and not just any old factory owner either! We bought Ahlgren’s former sweet factory for SEK 50 million and with that purchase begins the long, exciting, and extremely important process of creating an entirely new suburb in Gävle. There are many possibilities here. For example, we could build 500–600 new homes in the old factory, close to the sea, the City Centre, the Gävle Strand area, and

the historical residential district of Brynäs. We promised to save the famous historic neon sign that was there, with the text “Läkerol”, and we will be standing by that.

More and more people now live on our housing estates. Just as it was when the buildings were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s, there are a lot of families moving in, including many large families. If our tenants are able to meet up and socialise outdoors, the perceptions of both well-being and of feeling secure will increase – these are important indica-tors of quality housing. Gavlegårdar-na has increased its focus on impro-ving the outdoor environment from a long-term perspective. Our goal is that at least 80 per cent of tenants will be satisfied with their outdoor surroundings by the year 2017. This is a challenge – we reached just over 70 per cent in the spring of 2014 – but now we are increasing our efforts considerably. A number of projects have got underway, including several that involve our newly-employed landscape gardener. New play-grounds and meeting areas have been created, and this summer the plants in 100 box gardens will be in full bloom, providing interesting expe-

riences throughout our districts. And the cultivators of these plants are the tenants themselves.

In order to meet future challenges at Gavlegårdarna, we must strive towards improvements all the time. We are very pleased to see that our new customer centre and head office will soon become reality. There, 140 of our 190 employees will have a new workplace. And you should always feel at home whenever you visit us there.

I wish everyone a nice summer with some pleasant reading!

Cathrine Holgersson, MD

Number of flats

15,165

Gavlegårdarna has 183 employees:53 (29%) women and 130 (71%) men.

Employees Our housing

2 762

5 945

4 934

1 559

Houses 1 room 2 rooms 3 rooms 4 rooms 5 rooms0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

One in three residents of Gävle live

in a Gavlegårdarna property.

1,014 2,596 5,927 4,935 1,559

148

Number of tenants

30,000

2014 | 5

A wonderful summer

Summer Camp

6 | 2014

Many children go back to school bubbling with stories about all the fun

they had during their summer holidays. Many children – but far from all.

Gavlegårdarna and Gefle IF’s joint project, Gavli’s Summer Camp, was

set up to offer a variety of activities and experiences to those children

who perhaps need it most. The summer camp ran for the first time in

2014 and was a huge success.

7

A wonderful summer

Summer Camp

2014 | 7

Gavlegårdarna has a crystal clear policy for the

collaboration agreements that are signed with

Gävle’s associations, clubs, and other organi-

sations. Collaboration must now include many

things – and for many people. It’s all about the

residents of Gävle in general and our tenants in

particular.

By signing an agreement to provide activi-

ties for children and young people living in

Gavlegårdarna’s residential districts, the

company takes responsibility for the city of

Gävle’s well-being in general. Every third

resident of Gävle lives in rented accommodation

that is managed by Gavlegårdarna.

Another of the many hot days of the summer had begun. The time was just coming up to seven

o’clock when 11-year-old Malcolm Jagne jumped on his bike to go from Sörby to the sports area at Anders-berg. Gavli’s Summer Camp 2014 wasn’t due to start until nine, but Malcolm sat down with his e-book reader and felt the sun getting warmer and warmer on his face. He knew that some of the leaders would soon turn up. After a few days of the summer camp, they in turn knew by now that Malcolm was always first on the scene. His mother, Mia

Andersson, had also gone off to her job at the hospital. As a temporary worker there, she had no fixed holi-day entitlement, and for that reason was already worrying last winter about how to deal with the ten-week summer break. What could she do about Malcolm? Would he be forced to go to the recreation centre, and therefore not have a much-needed break from his school environment? Perhaps she could cobble something together with Grandma? After all, how would she be able to concen-trate on her job with Malcolm all alone in the flat throughout the long working day?

Ahead of her first day at Gavli’s Summer Camp, Emma Åhrlin was a little nervous. How would it be at the camp? She didn’t know any of the other participants, as far as she knew at that stage anyway.

The group began to assemble at the big football field in Andersberg, Emma sat a little way away from the other children. But it wasn’t not long before some girls came over and asked if Emma wanted to join them. At the end of just the first day, a very happy 11-year-old arrived home and telling everyone how much fun she had had that day.

Her mother, Eva-Marie, was equally happy. She was due to give

For the benefit of many“Making so many new friends at Gavli’s Summer Camp was the best part of it – along with the trip to the animal park at Järvzoo, of course,” said Emma Åhrlin, seen here at the viewing point overlooking Järvsö.

8 | 2014

“Collaboration with Gavlegårdarna had meant that even children who were not members of Gefle IF had the opportunity to participate”

birth again within the next few weeks, and had seen well in advance how difficult it was going to be to do everything she would have liked to have been doing with Emma during the summer holidays. All she wanted was for Emma to be involved in a lot of fun activities during her time off. Because the summer holidays should be all about playing, trying out new things – and just being kids! It was springtime, a year earlier, when Dan Andersson – the man in charge of Gefle IF’s youth training – observed that the summer football school they had been organising for years was about to burst at the seams. Collabora-

“Some of the participants came up to me in town,

several months after the Summer Camp. I didn’t

think they would remember me, but instead they

said ‘We will never forget you!’ I was really moved.

Can you understand that we’ve had the best

summer job ever? It was unbelievable!”

“I sprained a finger when I was trying to save a penalty from one of the first-team players!” remembered one of the participants, Malcolm Jagne, with pride in his voice.

Elin’s memory

2014 | 9

tion with Gavlegårdarna had meant that even children who were not mem-bers of Gefle IF had the opportunity to participate, but a hundred places was simply not enough.

At the same time, Gavlegårdarna was playing with some ideas for a completely new concept for children living in public housing who were off school for the summer. The company wanted to offer “its kids” a summer camp with a whole range of activities, for more participants and for more weeks. This was simply because there was – and is - a very obvious demand for this. Many are the children who don’t have any plans for the summer holidays. And many are the parents who have to struggle with their consciences, because they have to work and leave their children at a recreation centre or alone at home.

These concept ideas were pre-sented to our collaborative partner Gefle IF football club – and they latched on immediately.

“Our collaboration with Gav-legårdarna has always worked well. They care about their tenants and want to be able to do something for them. And, in turn, we want to give more children the chance to be ac-tive during their summer holidays,” said Dan Andersson, Gefle IF’s youth manager.

“With a summer camp, more children can try a lot of other ac-tivities than just football. This is all with the help of our talented youth leaders and some guest appearances from other active clubs and associa-tions in Gävle,” Dan continued.

After a short and intensive period of planning, invitations to the pilot project of Gavli’s Summer Camp were sent to all of Gavlegård-arna’s tenants. The reaction was

overwhelmingly positive. A total of 62 children duly registered their interest to take part in the brand new summer camp.

At the kick-off meeting, which was held in May, several parents said with great relief that the lumps they had been feeling in their stomachs since February had finally gone.

Lucas Westerberg and Elin Lun-dmark had, despite being only 18 years old, many years of experience working as youth leaders for Gefle IF. But until now, it had mostly – indeed, almost exclusively – focused on football and nothing but football.

Lucas and Elin both knew that Gavli’s Summer Camp would include much more than that. Now they would be playing host to other clubs and associations who in turn would be sharing their activities. Now they would be responsible for a large group of middle school children on the beach. Now they would be going on day trips to various destinations.

“Then we realised that there were children there of all ages, and from all of the districts”

But neither Lucas nor Elin knew yet that Gavli’s Summer Camp was about to actually change their lives a little.

“I remember I wondered how many children would actually turn up the first day; how many there be who don’t have much to do in their holidays?” said Elin Lundmark.

“Then we realised that there were children there of all ages, and from all of the districts. Some had younger siblings with them so that they wouldn’t be alone. And we had parents who came by to visit and thanked us with tears in their eyes for what we were doing,” she continued.

Lucas Westerberg added, “You got the feeling straightaway that these were kids who had come to the camp because they wanted to, not because they had to. They tried all the activities that were on offer to them, even if it was for the first time. And a lot of them were incred-ibly talented too,” he said, smiling.

10 | 2014

“Can you understand that we’ve had the best summer job ever? It was unbelievable!"

2014 | 11

the whole camp,” she continued.Lucas Westerberg added, “Or

when we visited the father of one of the children, who owns a pizzeria. He of-fered us all a meal on the house, and the leaders got an enormous kebab pizza!”

As the summer of 2014 drew to a close, Gavlegårdarna and GIF football club concluded that the vi-sion they’d had a few months earlier had been successfully implemented. Thanks to Gavli’s Summer Camp, 62 children had experienced a variety of activities during a few summer weeks – entirely without cost to them. And these 62 children were now going back to school and talking about all the fun they’d had.

“In a very short time we man-aged to create a Summer Camp that was of benefit to the general public.

“One boy said to me during the camp that he couldn’t come the next day. He lived in Valbo and his mother was working and she couldn’t drive him into town. However, I was getting a lift to the sports centre from my mother, so I showed the lad how to use the Number 1 bus and we picked him up when he got off the bus in the square.

At the end of the day, I went with him into town and made sure he got on the bus home. Several months later, I was refereeing a match at Kast-vallen when someone shouted ‘Lucas!’ and jumped about, waving from the benches. Sure enough, it was that same guy ... and things like that really warm the heart.”

The first Gavli’s Summer Camp was set up to run for three weeks. Sev-eral participants were involved from start to finish, whilst others chose a specific week. There were planned activities and excursions at the camp, interspersed with time where the participants were free to choose how they filled their time.

“We played “kubb” (a game involving the throwing of wooden blocks), rounders, and football, but some just wanted to just hang out and talk; everything was okay,” said Elin Lundmark.

“And I remember one time when we ran a talent show where they had

Lucas’ memory

to do the performing. It went a bit slowly at first, but then one of the leaders jumped up onto a table and started dancing, just to show the way. After that, they all simply cut loose,” continued Elin, laughing.

Once a week, the whole gang went off for a swim. They swam in the sea at Engesberg and in the lake at Strandbaden in Årsunda.

“When we were in Sandviken, we went out to the farm owned by Daniel Bernhardsson, a first team player at GIF. There we got towed around on a trailer by a tractor, and could pat a cow that was wandering around loose, like a family pet,” said Elin Lundmark.

“And a lot of the children thought the bus trip to the animal park at Järvzoo was the best part of

“I feel like I could work with this for the rest of my life”

12 | 2014

An idea that was born out of a real need became a concept for the very children who need it most,” said Kristina Isacson, marketing manager at Gavlegårdarna.

“This summer, we have taken on a major partner in Länsförsäkrin-gar Gävleborg, who are supporting Gavli’s Summer Camp. Ica Maxi is the food sponsor and Stadsbus-sarna the travel sponsor. Thanks to them we can extend the camp to four weeks and involve even more children,” she said.

“However, the fundamental goal and purpose mustn’t change. Gavli’s Summer Camp should always be a free of charge way for children who often have no alternative way to spend their time. We want to attract partners who would like to use this method to help Gävle become a better city.”

so much happiness and energy back.”Elin Lundmark put her head on

one side and smiled; “I’ve thought a lot about this since then. If I hadn’t had someone taking care of me when I was growing up, I wouldn’t have become the person I am today. These children made me realise things

about life that I will always take with me. This summer has most certainly changed me,” she added.

“We put so little time into this – on the whole, I mean - and yet it did so much. Seeing the children’s hap-piness like that ... I feel like I could work with this for the rest of my life!”

“There we got towed around on a trailer by a tractor, and could pat a cow that was wandering around loose, like a family pet”

When the salaries for their sum-mer’s efforts were paid out to the youth leaders Elin Lundmark and Lucas Westerberg, they’d almost managed to forget that they’d actually been working.

“It was just such fun! I had a summer job once before as a cleaner

and the time went so slowly. Here we were simply doing fun things with the children. We played, hung around, and socialised … and then got paid!” said Lucas Westerberg.

“Sure, I felt that we leaders did good things for the kids, but they did good things for us too. Being with them gave

Elin Lundmark and Lucas Westerberg, two of the leaders of Gavli’s Summer Camp 2014.

2014 | 13

The tenants are also happy when summer workers take their places in the surroundings outdoors. “It's wonderful when our courtyard looks nice,” is a fairly common comment. Here are Ibrahim Mervelle and Nina Nåtfors, weeding.

Green light for their first summer jobFinding that first summer

job isn’t always easy. But

there are jobs to apply for

if you are aged 16 to 18 and

live in a Gavlegårdarna

property. For four weeks,

these youngsters help to

keep everything neat and

tidy in the housing districts.

“It feels unbelievably positive that we have these kinds of jobs that allow us to employ young people during the summer,” said Kristina Kratz, human resources manager at Gavlegårdarna.

“We give these youngsters the chance to find their first job and their first employer right here in Gävle. When you’re still at school and have no work experience, it’s far from sim-ple and there are not too many jobs out there that you can apply for.”

Every summer, close to 70 young people aged between 16 and 18 are given a summer job at Gavlegårdarna. The jobs run in two successive four-

week periods, with shifts between 07:00 and 16:00. However, when these jobs are advertised at the beginning of the year, there are also other requirements that must be fulfilled before a person can apply.

“As an applicant, either you or your parents must be Gavlegårdarna tenants. We see this as provid-ing added value to the work itself, because it means you can actually get involved with making your own neighbourhood look good,” said Kristina Kratz.

She continued, “The surveys we do with our summer workers show

14 | 2014

For Oskar Simryd and many more of the young summer workers, Gavlegårdarna was the first employer they would meet in life.

that they feel the same. Helping to make everything look neat and tidy where they actually live is seen as one of the main benefits of the job, along with being able to work outdoors.”

In other words, it’s going to be outdoor work for the young sum-mer workers. The job specifications include weeding, oiling wooden planks, and simple painting, as well as cleaning and tidying up around the area. A foreman, who is over 18 years old, acts as supervisor and allocates the jobs to the youngsters, who work in groups of at least two.

“Weeding is harder than one might think. For the first few days, there will be plenty of sore wrists,” said Kristina Kratz.

“But on the whole, these young people see this as a really good job. Plenty of them apply all three years, and we usually try to ensure that

every team includes someone who has been with us before.”

Previous experience is therefore a factor that is taken into consid-eration when summer workers are selected from the close to 500 appli-cations that are received each year. We also look at age, gender, and current residential district, as well as the diversity perspective.

“Your first job is very much about finding your place and un-derstanding what’s expected of you. If you’ve never worked before, you

don’t have anything you can relate to,” said Kristina Kratz.

“In just a few weeks, these youngsters gain not only work experience, but also life experience. They learn to be on time, to listen to their supervisor, and to fix lunch, so they have the energy to cope with manual labour. All of this is at least as important as the actual job itself.”

“You can actually get involved with making your own neighbourhood look good”

2014 | 15

A municipal housing company operates with the general public very much in focus. It is a fundamental requirement of this that the conditions and rules by which the rental system works are fair to everyone. And this may not be the case at the moment, during the present housing shortage in Gävle.

Right now, there is a housing short-age in Sweden at a level not seen since the days of the Million Homes Programme. It is also no longer just the major cities that have difficult housing markets, with many people waiting in the queue. Even Gävle is

clearly under pressure here, some-thing that is reflected in the daily operations at Gavlegårdarna.

“We are approaching a situation that our counterparts in the big cities have talked about for a long time, but one that hasn’t been relevant to us previously,” said Roberth Krantz, housing advisor at Gavlegårdarna.

“Unfortunately, the housing shortage makes people find alterna-tive routes to getting accommoda-tion,” he continued.

This new situation means, of course, a lot of extra work for Roberth Krantz and his colleagues.

However, when the market changes like this, a public housing company will find that it has to adopt a new role to some extent.

“We’re not there yet, but it’s obvious that we should be discussing exactly what we need to be doing. For example, how much time should we spend informing tenants what’s

right and what’s wrong? Is our most important job really to ensure that laws and regulations are being followed when in reality we want to be concentrating on creating attractive residential environments by means of tenant influence – something that is of real benefit to society,” said Roberth Krantz.

“At the same time,” he contin-ued, “we can’t allow any cheating or abuse of the system to continue. We have a responsibility to provide a level playing field for our tenants and for those who are in the queue, to ensure that they have a fair chance to progress on the housing ladder. We can’t turn a blind eye to the fact that some people are trying to jump the entire queue.”

“At the same time, we can’t allow any cheating or abuse of the system to continue”

16 | 2014

2014 was a year when the housing shortage led to several high-profile events in Gavlegårdarna. Among other things, it was revealed that a so-called “robot” had somehow managed to get into the computer system and, in return for payment, monitor vacant flats.

Roberth Krantz explained what happened; “The first five who reg-istered their interest had previously been and looked at a flat that had be-come vacant on “Direkten”, the mar-ket on our website where flats are available for people with no queue

points. These flats were randomly selected at different times, yet some tenants were apparently sitting there then, coffee in hand, just pressing the update button, and got lucky. We can see that it normally takes anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours for all five to sign up, but sud-denly something strange had hap-pened. In just a few seconds, the flats had gone, and it’s not really credible that all five customers just happened to have logged in at exactly the right moment,” he said.

At the same time, rumours start-ed to reach Gavlegårdarna. These rumours suggested that the creator of a so-called robot was selling the service to any tenant who was will-ing to pay for such housing fraud.

“The service cost sek 1,000 to monitor one flat in one of the outer areas, and double that in the city centre. We quickly discovered more than 80 addresses that were con-nected to the robot, so the owner of it had clearly done quite well out of it,” said Roberth Krantz.

“It’s not illegal to create some kind of digital eyes and ears that then monitor something that anyone can monitor if they so wish. Those who bought the service had also voluntarily handed over their login details,” he continued.

The event could not therefore be substantiated as a direct violation of the rules. Instead, the outcome was that the system for releasing these vacant flats was revamped. This means that tenants now have less op-portunity to influence their housing situation.

“Yes, unfortunately, that’s the way it is. Today, the computer se-lects at random the five people who will be offered a flat. It doesn’t mat-ter how quick you are anymore; now you have to be lucky,” said Roberth Krantz.

“In the long run, it might mean that fewer flats go out on Direkten, and that people will instead become increasingly dependent on having a high number of queue points. We also see that many of our colleagues in the housing sector can only of-fer flats to people in their housing queue. That’s not a desirable situa-tion either, as we would like other people to have the chance to rent from us, but eventually we might well end up there,” he continued.

Subletting their flat is a practi-cal solution for anyone who will be working or studying elsewhere for a limited period of time. Anyone who would like to do this can apply to Gavlegårdarna for permission to do so.

“My partner and I used to live in a flat

in Hemsta with the children. When it got

too crowded about two years ago, we

decided to move to a terraced house in

Bomhus because it had more floor space.

However, when my partner moved out,

my costs increased significantly, not least

because the distances involved mean that

the family needs several bus passes. I also

start work at 06:45 some mornings, which

means I have to take the bus from Bomhus

at 06:00, and that’s not much fun for my

four-year-old.

I registered on “Bytestorget” at Gavle-

gårdarna, so that I could swap where we live

with someone else, and there I found two

flats in town, both with cheaper rent than

mine. But my application was refused as my

reasons were not deemed sufficient, and I

was very disappointed.

There is a risk that I won’t be able to

pay the rent and will therefore have to get

housing benefit. For this reason I simple

can’t understand why the rules are so hard.

I already have a home, and there are clearly

other people who are interested in it.

If it’s going to be this difficult to move

to another property, I think Gavlegårdarna

should remove the possibility altogether. I

really can’t go through this process again

now, so it will probably be a while before I

try again.”

Carolina, 42, still lives in the terraced house

in Bomhus with her three children.

refusal

move again”

“ I really can’t

“It’s not illegal to create some kind of digital eyes and ears”

2014 | 17

Subletting

“I’ve lived in a Gavlegårdarna property

ever since I left home almost ten years ago.

Before I moved, I had a small terraced house

with a patio in Bomhus. But then I lost my

job and felt that my costs were running

away, as I lived alone there.

On Bytestorget, I made contact with a

couple who had a three-room flat in Brynäs.

The man was working night shifts and

found the noise of the traffic, refuse trucks,

road sweepers and so on right outside his

window disturbed him constantly.

We applied to swap properties, but unfor-

tunately I was only too cowardly to explain

my real problems. I wrote in my reasoning

for the swap that I didn’t have the time for

the garden or something like that ... so our

application was refused. It was my reasons

which were not deemed sufficient. So then

I rang Gavlegårdarna and explained the real

situation. They asked me to pick up a new

form and write down the real reasons for

wanting to swap. The couple in Brynäs were

very grateful that I’d put in some time and

tried again, and even I felt good afterwards.

I was honest and explained my situa-

tion, and it paid off. Swapping homes is an

excellent idea that isn’t always available from

private property owners. It’s tough in the

housing market right now, so I understand

that Gavlegårdarna can’t simply rubberstamp

all of the swap applications filed with them.”

Andreas, 28, now lives in a three-room flat

in Brynäs.

REFUSAL AND THEN

GRANTED

explained my

“I was honest and

situation”

However, unapproved subletting is going on behind the scenes, and it’s not happening for a limited period of time either. Many people seem to be unaware of the rules that apply.

“If you’re young and about to leave home, maybe your parents are kind and, so to speak, offer to let you use their queue points. They sign up for a flat in an attractive loca-tion, but they themselves actually carry on living in their house. This is absolutely forbidden, even when it involves family or when the parents pay the rent,” said Roberth Krantz.

“Last year, the number of people doing this doubled. Many people also get angry with us and point out that ‘the domestic arrangements of our family are nothing to do with you!’ However, that’s not quite how it works; the Housing Act is crystal clear here. This kind of approach to

“We have to keep the housing market within the existing legislation”

housing jeopardises all of our rental- and queuing rules,” he continued.

Roberth Krantz also emphasised that the next step in unauthorised

subletting can lead to a whole new black market, something that is normal in the big cities.

“You might start to rent out your flat at double the rent or sell your contract. We have to keep the hous-ing market within the existing leg-islation, and if you as a parent would like to help your child you should buy an owner-occupied flat, not simply bypass the general queue.”

It is forbidden to rent a flat from

Gavlegårdarna if you do not intend

to live in it yourself, nor can you rent

a flat for another member of your

family. If the landlord receives indica-

tions that someone else is living in

the flat, a registered letter will be sent

with a request to cease and desist

the unauthorised subletting. If this

letter is ignored, the landlord will give

notice to the tenant whose name is

on the contract that said contract will

be terminated. If the tenant denies

the flat is being sublet, the landlord

will want to visit the flat to look more

closely at who and how many people

are living in the flat. If the suspicions

remain, you have two choices: give

notice on the contract or move in

yourself. The Housing Act is clear in its

directions regarding subletting, and

in the event of a dispute the matter

will be settled by the rent tribunal, to

which the tenant can also appeal if

he/she wishes.

It is permitted to sublet your flat

for a limited period of time, such

as if you are going to work or study

elsewhere for a while. If this is the

case, simply make an application to

Gavlegårdarna.

• During 2014, Gavlegårdarna took

between 10-15 disputes regarding

suspected unapproved subletting to

the rent tribunal. In every case bar

one, the tenants were forced to leave

the flat. The other case was set to go

before the Court of Appeal when the

tenant opted to surrender the keys

before the hearing.

• The number of unapproved sublet-

tings in Gavlegårdarna’s housing stock

doubled between the years 2013 and

2014. The first few months of 2015

show that, in the worst case, this num-

ber may have doubled once again.

18 | 2014

Available flats appear first on “Torget”, our main site

for flat rental. Everyone who is in Gavlegårdarna’s

queue can register their interest in any of the flats

there, although only the ten with the highest number

of queue points will initially be offered the chance to

view a flat.

Any flats that don’t get rented out after being avail-

able on Torget are then put up on “Direkten”. In the

past, flats that appeared on this site were selected by

means of a random number generator at various dif-

ferent times of the day, and the first five people who

registered their interest in a flat were then invited to

view it. However, during 2014 the so-called robot was

discovered that, in return for money, automatically

monitored the release of such flats.

Today, as a result of this, anyone can register their in-

terest in flats that appear on Direkten. The computer

then randomly selects five names from the list, and

they then receive an offer to rent the flat. As a tenant,

therefore, you don’t have as much chance to change

your housing situation via this site now, an unfortu-

nate consequence of the “established fraud”.

The queue system for flats

When life changes, it’s not so easy today to find a new home that matches the new requirements. Interest in flat exchanges directly between tenants naturally increases when there is a tough housing market. It’s a great opportunity for those who do it the right way, but here there is also a hidden market with less fair procedures. In 2014, Gavlegårdarna attracted a lot of media attention in a case involving an alleged fraudulent flat swap.

“Swapping flats could entail two parties both finding their dream home, and that’s the way it should be. However, by law, both parties must also have worthy reasons to justify their wanting the exchange.

It could be that the children have grown up and left home, or maybe they’ve lost their jobs and need to reduce costs, or on the other hand perhaps the family is growing,” explained Roberth Krantz.

“These reasons have to be justifiable, and described to us in a way that allows us to make a fair decision. Saying you want to live on the ground floor so that the cat can get out wouldn’t be sufficient reason, nor would ‘feeling like I want a change’ be acceptable,” continued Roberth.

The basic premise of Bostadsbyten

(literally “home swap”) is to comple-ment a market that is not in bal-

ance. In a place where there are few available flats, it should be easier to justify your reasons for wanting the exchange. However, at the same time, the housing shortage here is contrib-uting to the fact that more and more people are finding ways to get around the laws and rules that exist.

“Many people argue, ‘I have the right to this,’ and get angry with us if an exchange is not approved. How-ever, in reality we have a long queue for our housing and, if you want to jump that queue, then it’s important that you can justify your reasoning behind it,” said Roberth Krantz.

One ground rule is that you must have been a tenant for at least a year in the flat you wish to swap.

2014 | 19

“After my separation in 2012, I moved

into a three-room flat in Söder. I got it

by checking Direkten at six o’clock on

Christmas Eve morning, and of course I was

delighted. The monthly rent of SEK 7,000

was quite high, but that was fine as long as I

had a job. However, it got harder when I was

on sick leave due to stress for six months.

I was at home for half a year before I

could return to work, but a year after that I

couldn’t cope with it any more. I was on my

way back to being on long-term sick leave

again, so I chose to quit the job instead,

which meant a 90-day waiting period

before I got any unemployment benefit.

That was when I started to look seriously for

a cheaper flat.

On “Bytestorget”, I found a couple

who had children and needed a bigger flat;

they had a two-room flat in Brynäs. The

exchange went through in December, and

now my daughter and I live in a flat that is

55m2 rather than 85m2.

However, the flat is well-planned and

it works for us. Furthermore, it’s SEK 3,000

cheaper than our old flat, which is the

most important benefit. I have just started

my own business in a totally new branch,

together with a colleague, and of course

I need to keep my fixed costs as low as

possible.

It’s really great that this possibility to

swap exists and that people can make con-

nect with each other on their own to set the

ball rolling.”

Sara, 51, now lives in a two-room flat

in Brynäs.

this possibility exists”

“It's really great that

The Housing Act makes it very clear

that flats may NOT be exchanged

unless there are “justifiable reasons

that make it appropriate”. Justifiable

reasons might include, for example,

the need for a larger or smaller flat

due to changes in family, occupatio-

nal, or financial circumstances. One

requirement that must be met is that

The swapping of flatsboth parties should have approved

reasons. If this is not the case, the

landlord may suspect a fraudulent

exchange, i.e. where one party in

the exchange is involved only for the

benefit of the other. In several cases

recently, one party has given notice

on their new flat almost immediately

after the exchange.

“We reject quite a few who have just moved in. We usually say that you should swap because of something that has happened while you were living in your flat, not because of so-mething that happened previously. If you said yes to a large flat when the children had already moved out, you can’t then use them having left home as a valid reason for an exchange,” explained Roberth Krantz.

“And when we suspect a fraudu-lent flat swap, there is probably only one party actually benefitting from it. For example, I might arrange to swap my flat with a friend even though I know I will be moving away from the town soon. My friend gets a nice flat, and I give notice al-most immediately on the flat I have just moved into. That’s not OK; you’re only supposed to swap for a home where you genuinely plan to live,” continued Roberth Krantz.

The number of suspicious cases has been increasing in this area too. Gavlegårdarna is well aware that a further development on this front has already occurred in the big cit-

ies; there is a black market in place there for exchanges such as these.

“For many years, we have had a website (“Bytestorg”) where tenants can get together and try to match their exchange requests. It’s debatable in the present situa-tion whether or not we should be encouraging these exchanges, and this is something that we’re discuss-ing right now. Should we develop our role further as an agent in these exchanges, or should we instead focus our efforts on renting out flats through our normal channels?” asked Roberth Krantz.

“Obviously we will continue to follow developments in the housing market in Gävle. Catching up by means of new construction in order to achieve a balance in the market is not possible right here right now; that’s a long-term project. Mean-while, it is our responsibility to try to ensure that terms remain fair for everyone.”

Footnote: The names of the tenants be-ing interviewed have been changed.

GRANTED

20 | 2014

Leaving a place where one has lived for ages can be tough. And for those who are a little

older, actually being forced to move is a real pain. So when the demolition order for the ter­

raced houses on Almvägen was approved, it was accompanied by an awful lot of protests.

Gavlegårdarna therefore worked really hard in order to meet every single tenant and try to

meet all of their unique requirements. We dropped by later to see two tenants from Almvägen

in their new homes. And the question is, can they now look on the bright side of life?

The bright side of life

“To think that I slept so well here, alongside such a nice and warm wall”

90-year-old tenant from Almvägen, after the first night in a new flat

2014 | 21

The background from AlmvägenIn the early 2010s, we began to hear

demands that something needed to

be done about the shabby housing on

Almvägen. The façades were damaged

and the original windows were causing

energy costs in the buildings to be far

too high. The properties were also built

at a time when there were much lower

demands for accessibility. The common

laundry room was down in the basement,

and there were steps to all of the outside

doors as well as the patio doors.

The 33 households living on Almvägen,

as well as their relatives, were invited to

four big meetings to discuss the future of

the buildings. Their points of view were

compiled and attached to the launch of

an architectural competition, one that

was financed with the help of govern-

ment money. The competition theme

was accessibility, and the participating

agencies were invited to submit their

proposals for both renovation and new

construction. However, none of the pro-

posals submitted advocated renovation.

The winning entry was judged as being

balanced, and it also matches the school

and the houses that are the closest

neighbours to the properties on Almvä-

gen. It took into account the big parks and

green areas, and will open them up even

further. The green areas were something

“I was the first to move from Almvägen”Irene, you were the first from

Almvägen – how did that come

about?

“I understood straightaway that the houses would be demolished, so I was quite prepared to move. I wasn’t one of those writing letters of protest either. When Gavlegårdarna asked me if I was prepared to change where I was living, I answered, ‘I moved just yesterday’. On the other hand, Hemsta was the only area I could see myself moving to. It’s peaceful, green, and relatively central.”

Can you describe the differences

between where you lived

previously and today?

“I’ve had a hip operation, so the stairs at Almvägen were a problem for me. But there’s nothing like the area itself was; all the green space and my own little garden. I spent a lot of time in the flowerbeds, where there was never a weed. I grew a lot of things at Almvägen, including the flowers that I spent time with every day. And I could socialise with Gun, my neighbour, too. We often drank

coffee or went to the restaurant; actually, we still get together a few times each week. Even though we ended up living in different neigh-bourhoods.

But life is pretty good in Hemsta too. My flat is quite big, and has an open floorplan. It’s been newly-renovated from floor to ceiling and I have a large patio too. My rent has gone up by about a thousand kronor, but that’s OK. It all depends on where you put your priorities.”

The terraced houses in Almvägen were

built in the 1950s and from the very begin-

ning were intended for the elderly. The

flats were small; two rooms and a kitchen

totalling 35m2, and a caretaker’s flat with

four rooms and a kitchen. By today’s stand-

ards, such flats would mostly be classified

as student accommodation, but the low

standard has made it possible to maintain

very low rent.

22 | 2014

that the residents described as Almvägen’s

absolute best feature.

The residents of Almvägen started their

protests against the demolition plans ear-

ly on, even in the media. Gavlegårdarna

decided to meet every one of these ten-

ants individually, in order to give them the

chance to reflect on their own situation, to

ask them questions, and to get their own

wishes for their future accommodation.

The intention was to meet these wishes

wherever it was possible. It turned out that

only a minority were interested in living

in terraced houses in the future. Even

though the patios and small gardens were

one of the main attractions at Almvägen,

the residents also saw the advantages of

no longer having to shovel snow or mow

the lawn. There were also only a few who

wanted accommodation in the same

district, Olsbacka-Fridhem. The variation

among all the requests was still great,

however. Some had specific requirements

for the size or location of their future flats,

whereas others were very open to sug-

gestions. Gavlegårdarna set to work on

solving the puzzle of meeting the various

wishes of these residents.

Some of the tenants decided to move out

fairly quickly, while others stayed put to

ponder the matter and get their bearings.

Gavlegårdarna continually gave them the

chance to view flats that became vacant,

if they met with the wishes and require-

ments expressed previously. The residents

of Almvägen were free to choose, and

nobody was forced into accepting one of

the offers they were presented with.

All the tenants on Almvägen were offered

free-of-charge removal services. If they

chose to do the work themselves, they

were given a relocation allowance; the

alternative was to let a removals firm take

care of all the work. They were compen-

sated for their removal costs and given a

small allowance to help them get settled

in their new homes.

By the turn of year (2014/2015), the

residential area of Almvägen stood empty.

The former tenants were now all rehoused

across Gavlegårdarna’s portfolio; Bom-

hus, Brynäs, Valbo, Andersberg, Central

and Söder.

During the summer of 2015, the old build-

ings on Almvägen will be demolished.

A procurement operation is underway

regarding new construction work planned

for the site, and the new houses there are

expected to be ready for occupancy by the

autumn of 2016. The previous occupants

of Almvägen will all be given priority if

they wish to return. Each of the 60 or so

flats will be built with increased acces-

sibility. All the flats on the ground floor will

have a patio, while the others will have a

balcony. The theme of the new construc-

tion is “The bright side of life”.

Irene Assarsson lived in a two-room flat on Almvägen for nine years. She was the first tenant to move out, and today she lives in a two-room flat on Apelgatan in Hemsta.

Did you get good help with the move?

“I packed ten boxes myself; the removal guys took care of the rest. The entire job took two days, and by the third day I was putting up pictures. I brought a poppy with me from the garden and it’s taken root here, so I’m just glad it’s all over.”

So you’ll be staying in Hemsta?

“Somehow, it was even better at Almvägen, and not a day goes by without me thinking of the place. If I can ever afford it, and I get the opportunity, I will definite-ly move back. If you know what you want, it doesn’t matter that you’re 78 years old.”

2014 | 23

“A lot of things went just our way”Hans and Anne-Mari, how were

the years at Almvägen?

“When we moved there as a family with three children, we got a lot of comments. People thought we’d be out of place there, among all those pensioners. However, we were more than happy there over the years; it’s a nice spot, and the green areas around the houses themselves are wonderful.

It got a bit more difficult towards the end though, as the buildings started to get run down and the façades didn’t look so good. Down in the basement it had got pretty shabby, with poor ventilation, and our clothes didn’t always smell fresh. If often flooded too during periods of heavy rain, so I stood there from time to time sweeping water down the storm drains.”

What did you think when they first

started talking about demolition or

renovation?

“I had some doubts at first, but then I realised that the professionals should decide what makes sense and what doesn’t. You can’t stand in the way of progress.”

What were your preferences ahead

of the move?

“I like to cycle in the summer, often out towards Valbo. One day, I stopped on Barnstugevägen and talked with some people who were sitting outside there, drinking cof-fee. ‘We’ve got it so good here that we’d never move,’ they said. That was when I thought we could put down some new roots here.

“My wife is ill with MS, and the buildings in Valbo are easily accessi-

ble. Furthermore, the health centre is nearby, meaning less need for transportation there. We both grew up in the countryside, so we like being close to nature and to green areas. Accordingly, our only request to Gavlegårdarna was for a flat on Barnstugevägen.”

And it worked out OK?

“Yes, although it took a while. We needed a three-room flat, and they only had two-room flats vacant. Time passed, and I remember start-ing to despair. It had become dark and gloomy on Almvägen as more and more people moved out, and we didn’t know then exactly when they had planned to start the demolition process. ‘Whatever’s going to happen here?’ I remember wondering. It got to the point that we started to think about a two-step solution, i.e. mov-ing to an intermediate flat, but that would have meant a lot of extra work.

Then, all of a sudden, just when everything seemed to be at its dark-est, Gavlegårdarna called and told me that there were wheels in motion. That same day, a daytime activity centre that was operating from a three-room flat on the ground floor, with a patio, had just given notice on their contract. It was incredible how perfectly it worked out – a lot of things went just our way.”

And are you happy today?

“We dreamed about living on the ground floor, so this feels really good. It’s nice here – you just have to look outside. We’ve also made good contact with the people living around us. We’ve even got a disabled parking space right outside, com-plete with an engine preheater. Gav-legårdarna has been really accom-modating; we even got to choose wallpaper that was not included in their standard range.”

Hans and Anne-Marie Hellqvist rented Almvägens only four-room flat for 31 years. Now the couple live into an apartment with a patio on Barnstugevägen in Valbo.

24 | 2014

The suburbs are growing – and things are growing in themDuring the summer, things grow in Gavle­

gårdarna’s residential areas. A hundred box

gardens, created using pallet collars that

would otherwise have been thrown away,

were handed over to a hundred tenants who

were eager would­be gardeners. There was

huge interest in these tiny gardens.

“If this experiment goes well, we’ll be

looking at more permanent gardening pos­

sibilities,” said Gavlegårdarna’s landscape

gardener, Michael Bergman.

IIt’s not a new idea, cultivating plants in an urban environment. In fact, it’s a natural part of our history.

“Industrialism and the development of the motor car have just been blips in our develop-

ment; until then, most people grew fruit, berries, and vegetables for their own livelihoods, even if they lived in town,” said Michael Bergman, landscape gardener at Gavlegårdarna.

“In New York, Berlin, and other major cities, there is a powerful culture again today of people cultivating their own crops. There are examples of roof gardens in Manhattan supplying raw ingredients to the local restaurant on the corner,” he continued.

2014 | 25

The benefits of gardening, according to Michael Bergman• Access to organic, locally-grown and

poison-free vegetables.

• Possibility to be outdoors, meet the

neighbours, talk and socialise.

• Chance to share an interest with other people.

• Will please all residents, not only gardeners.

• A project for children too. When you put a seed

in the ground and later have a carrot in the

autumn, suddenly a lot of things make more

sense.

• Flowers make everyone happy.

“This is a cheap way to do something positive in our outdoor surroundings”

“The big cities also have guerrilla gardeners, people who dig up boring plants and replace them with something more innovative. They are committed and they don’t destroy anything; instead they contribute to everyone’s well-being. I almost wish we had guerrilla gardeners here in Gävle,” he continued with a chuckle.

It was when Michael visited the Ahlgren factory that he saw over a hundred pallet collars and loading pallets that were simply being thrown away. At that moment, the idea was born to take the material and create something from it – together with the tenants.

“People have a need to be creative. This is particularly no-ticeable with the current trends in interior design and garden-ing,” said Michael.

“But those who live in rental flats don’t have a garden and can’t usually do whatever they like indoors. So, how can we give them the opportunity to be outdoors and be creative? Well, we can offer them the chance of having a box garden,” he continued.

An invitation was sent to all tenants last autumn and the response was huge. The hundred pallet collars were booked up within a week, in addition to which Gavlegårdarna also had a long reserve list.

26 | 2014

You are one of Gavlegårdarna’s new gardeners, and also a blogger. Are you an experienced gardener, or have you embarked on something new here?“My balcony has been my allotment for many years. I’m

self-sufficient in vegetables during the summer and I

grow everything from tomatoes, chillies and peppers

to potatoes and edible flowers, such as nasturtiums

and pansies. It’s great fun, and furthermore I prefer

organic vegetables during the rest of the year too. My

eleven-year-old son Dominic helps with this; it’s the

only way to get him to eat vegetables!”

You signed up for a box garden straightaway?“In Öster, where I live, we have allotments and I was in

the queue for one of those for ages. So when I saw this

opportunity, I replied quickly, but still only got on the

reserve list. However, fortunately I got one of the pallet

collars in the end.”

What are you looking forward to the most?“Trying something new, as it’s always so full on my

balcony. Dominic wants us to try growing cucumbers,

but I’m a little worried that they’ll be too big for a box

garden of this size. On the other hand, I am a gardener

who likes to take a bit of a chance. The first time I tried

to grow potatoes in an ordinary 10-litre bucket, I got

32 potatoes – beyond my wildest dreams! So, now I’ll

be trying to grow physalis plants, and I’d like a lot of

flowers too.

It’ll also be very interesting to see who the other

gardeners are. We will of course have our box gardens

right next to each other, so hopefully we’ll all find a

few new friends with similar interests. And I promise

I’ll be trying to blog at least once a week.”

You can follow Amirah and the other bloggers at pallkrage.wordpress.com

“We’ve got a mixed group with both men and women from most of the residential districts. Some of them are seasoned gardeners, others are trying it for the first time,” said Lasse Nivér, commu-nications officer at Gavlegårdarna.

“We’ve started a Facebook group where all interested par-ties can share their experiences, ask questions, and try to find answers. Furthermore, five of the gardeners are blogging about how everything’s going with it,” he continued.

Thanks to a partnership with Hedvig’s Garden Centre and a local study circle, all of the gardeners received some packets of seed, an inspiration catalogue, and a plant of their choice from Hedvig’s. The gardeners had the choice of tomatoes, cucumbers, chillies, or physalis (also known as Cape gooseberries).

“We painted the pallet collars, put our logo on them, and gave them a number. Then we filled them with soil and took them out to their respective residential areas”, said Michael.

“This is a cheap way to do something very positive in our outdoor surroundings. The pallet collars are inexpensive and are being recycled rather than being scrapped. We don’t need to dig anywhere either; these box gardens can stand on anything, such as asphalt or grass areas,” he continued.

Michael Bergman is convinced that the status of outdoor sur-roundings is going to increase more and more. Engineers and city planners will be allowed to let humanism loose in the hous-ing estates of the future.

“In our artificial city lives, we’ve removed the possibility of having places where we can meet, socialise, and grow things, but it’s coming back. All of the research being done shows that it’s positive for our well-being. Who doesn’t feel happy when a whole load of spring bulbs suddenly appear in a mass of different colours, where everything around them is grey, brown, and boring?” asked Michael.

“The younger generation’s wishes and requirements are pointing to the future. If we want to be a modern housing com-pany, we can’t be half a generation behind; indeed, we should be taking the lead.”

Amirah Abumterak

Hello there

“Who doesn’t feel happy when a whole load of spring bulbs suddenly appear in a mass of different colours?”

2014 | 27

Mahmoud (8), Wade (6), Alfarooq (9), and Azda (5) love playing football in the courtyard. But they also use the new activities arena, which has lighting on dark afternoons and evenings.

Meeting people creates comfortAn outdoor environment

consists of much more

than just a playground

with a couple of swings

and a bench. It is also

about security, comfort,

well­being, socialising, and

accessibility. Things that

make tenants feel better.

Andersberg is a suburb

where outdoor environ­

ment renovation is going

ahead at full speed.

The orange-red blocks of flats in Anders berg were built in the 1970s. Be-tween the buildings, there are some large areas for playing and socialising, such as playgrounds, lawns, and small copses.

“This is a suburb with lots of children who often are outdoors. Accordingly, the outdoor environ-ments had been well-used and were basically worn out,” said Charina Rosén, construction project leader at Gavlegårdarna.

“As part of the customer survey we carry out each year, where tenants give their opinions on their housing, they’ve been less than pleased with the outdoor environments in our portfolio - even here in Andersberg,” she continued.

Ahead of the area’s planned renovation, all tenants were invited to four meetings, at each stage of the construction, and given the chance to speak out. In the sketches that were subsequently presented to the tenants, Gavlegårdarna showed the company had tried to meet the wishes that the tenants mentioned the most.

“We’ve invested a lot in seat-ing, at the entrances, in the copses, and at the playgrounds. People have the opportunity to barbecue out there now, and the playgrounds are designed to appeal to children of all different ages,” said Charina Rosén.

“Meanwhile, car traffic between the buildings has always been a

Phase 1 of the development kicked off in October 2013, and included the buil-

dings at Vinddraget och Norrskensgatan. The work was completed in October

2014, and now Phase 2 is underway, at Vinddraget och Tordönsgatan. This

work is expected to be completed by October 2015.

Vinddraget and Norrskensgatan

28 | 2014

Mohammad Al-Wajjar and Zakaria Al-Kurdi have just sat down for a chat in the spring sunshine on one of the new benches in one of the many new seating areas.

The newly-built recycling rooms have plenty of space for waste, and have been decorated with pictures, warm colours, and messages concerning the environment.

Yaqeen and Shaimaa Ahmed, 5 and 4 years old respectively, moved to Andersberg a few months ago, and they both love the area’s new playgrounds.

problem. We have tried to solve this by the use of kerbstones and by creating areas with plants that somehow connect the courtyards together, all of which should in turn lead to the traffic speed in the area being reduced,” she continued.

A lot of football is played in almost every courtyard here, something that is characteristic of the area. It creates well-being, providing both activity and an opportunity for children to meet new friends. But it is possible to have too much of a good thing, not least because hard balls and a lot of windows don’t always make a success-ful combination.

“We’ve taken away some rows of garages and replaced them with an arena that can be used for many

sporting activities and is also floodlit in the evenings. We know how much the football pitch at Nordost gets used, and it looks like it will be the same in An-dersberg. Our colleagues over there tell us that there are always people getting together there, both on and around the pitch,” said Charina Rosén.

The recycling rooms, which have been built in every courtyard, are de-signed to make their use attractive. In addition to their modern exterior de-sign, the interior has been thought out in terms of both colour and design.

“We hope that everything will have been well-received by the time the tenants have had time to get used to the whole thing. We’ve received plenty of positive feedback so far, and there hasn’t been any vandalism,” said Charina Rosén.

• Better lighting for increased safety and security

• More seats and seating areas

• New playgrounds for both younger and older children

• More barbecue areas

• New kerbstones and areas with plants

• Newly-built large recycling rooms

• New floodlit activity arena, with fixed goalposts, basketball hoops, seating

and barbecue areas

• One area has been prepared for garden allotments

This is what has been done to improve the outdoor environments in Andersberg

“In time, of course, it will just get better and better. The trees and plants need time to grow, making everything greener and leafier, and more shaded too, but the area will still be more open than it was before. That was one of the wishes that the tenants had, in the interests of safety and security, along with better light-ing for the same reasons.”

2014 | 29

BrynäsLoved, talked about, slandered

30 | 2014

The history archives describe Brynäs as a suburb whose character grew

from a demolition project followed by fast and large­scale reconstruc­

tion. However, a walk through the area gives another feeling entirely.

Some of the buildings that have been preserved here are much older than

the buildings in other parts of Gävle. There is a certain charm here, and

a neighbourhood feel too, where small businesses live side by side with

residential properties. The very first building purchased by the fledgling

housing company Gavlegårdarna in 1917 can also be found here.

Join us for a visit to much talked about, slandered

– but, above all, loved – suburb.

2014 | 31

The spring breeze was chilly, but it was shel-tered close to the shop windows in Brynäs Centre. The sun was

warming the tips of the noses of the men who had just sat down there, outside the Red Cross shop at the Kupan meeting place. The big elm tree in the middle of the square, Ägotorget, had been given a scarf to keep it warm by a group of guer-rilla knitters. Another scarf could be seen around the waist of the dog that is part of the “Then and Now” sculpture in the square. It depicts someone speaking to an audience, and alludes to Brynäs as a social movement district. History tells us that the little dog went missing for

a while, but today he’s back in his rightful place on the podium.

Inside the Culture Centre, located in the middle of the square, activities were in full swing. The board meeting had just finished, and the buns were being laid out for everyone’s delectation.

Turkan Kaya is the manager of this non-profit-making multicul-tural centre.

“Our main goal is to help people to do what they want to be doing in their lives. We have lots of activities here to choose from every day – lan-guage support for adults, homework help, baby meets, sports and theatre are just a few examples,” she said.

“We started in 2008, operating from premises on Väpnargatan that

were sponsored by Gavlegårdarna. Right from the start we had created a meeting place for different cul-tures here in Brynäs, but today we’re in the middle of a three-year project funded by the municipality. This explains why we’re in these fine, new facilities, but it also means that we can do so much more, and for so many more people,” she continued.

“We want as many people as possible to find their way here, and find something that appeals to them from what we have to offer. By com-ing to meetings here, you will get linguistic help, you will learn about Swedish society, and understand more easily how everything works,” she concluded.

The name Brynäs can be found in

documents dating from the 1600s,

although then it was spelt Brynäz,

Bryness or Brynäss. The origin of

the name probably comes from the

fact that the area was once a woo-

ded isthmus that stretched out into

the inlet known as Gävlefjärden,

Bay, dividing it into two deep bays.

During the 1800s, Gävle was a very strong

industrial city. Several of the city’s main

industries were to be found in Brynäs,

such as Skoglund & Olsson’s foundry,

Brynäs Wharf, Wahl’s woodwork factory,

and Matton’s tannery. Very early on,

Brynäs became a suburb that had a focus

on workers’ housing in the city’s “cheaper

outskirts”.

1600s 1800s

Matton’s Tannery in Brynäs.

“I love Brynäs; it’s my home!”

The large housing estate on top of a hill, where many older buildings have been preserved.

The characteristic main street, Brynäsgatan, that’s crossed by seven streets, and the lush

Steneberg Park. Or maybe the battered suburb that’s been struggling for years with fights

and general hustle and bustle. There are lots of descriptions and preconceptions of Brynäs,

but one thing is certain. The residents love their charming neighbourhood, where entre­

preneurs, clubs, associations, and a strong community spirit have always had their place.

32 | 2014

Rehearsals are in full swing at the Culture Centre. Participants get direction from Sarah Galfvensjö, but here they are improvising from scenes experienced by themselves.

Turkan Kaya, manager of the Culture Centre, and Sarah Galfvensjö, a drama teacher.

Brynäs survived the city fire in 1869.

Instead, several barracks and campsites

were set up here to house families from

elsewhere who lost their homes. During

the years that followed, there were often

discussions about the residents of Brynäs

and their “hygiene, morals, and upbring-

ing”. The architect, PG Sundin, put forward

a proposal for a new city plan, with a focus

on improving the health, safety, and well-

being of the residents.

1869

There were two pools at Östra Badhuset, each with their own changing facilities. The very first summer after construction was completed, the newly-established Gefle Swimming Club arranged competitions in the baths.

1875

Östra Badhuset was constructed in 1875,

the swimming baths down by the river

Gavleån. This was a popular place for

swimming for many years.

2014 | 33

It was Tuesday and time for one of the Culture Centre’s theatre groups to rehearse. The night for their own pro-gramme on the Brynäs area

to be played to the general public was approaching. The jitters displayed by some of the actors were palpable.

Turkan Kaya smiled as she talked about the creation of the group.

“A group of young guys started hanging out here every day. We usually found things to do – we’d bake some cakes, watch a movie, or just sit and talk. But eventually I said to them that we needed to create an activity that would interest them; the Culture Centre wasn’t supposed to be a youth centre. We already had one of those (Brynjan), and they were doing a great job,” she said.

“But when I suggested theatre, it took quite a long time before they accepted it. Several of them had ter-rible stage fright immediately!” she continued.

The group’s leader, Sarah Galfvensjö, saw an enormous devel-

opment in the lads once the produc-tion got started. For each and every one of them, any resistance soon turned into motivation.

“The most important aspect of our work has been that the guys have had to work with themselves. We’ve talked about their experiences of being immigrants in a Swedish environment, how other people see them, but also how they see us ‘Swe-des’. We’ve also discussed prejudices and how to deal with them, not least because there plenty of prejudices concerning Brynäs too,” said Sarah Galfvensjö.

“We set up and played out vari-ous events that the guys themselves experienced and, with time, the script began to evolve. The group went from saying, ‘No, who would want to watch us?’ to collectively longing to perform in front of an audience. It’s

In 1888, the new city plan that still characterises

Brynäs was adopted. The main street, Brynäsga-

tan, complete with a large number of trees, cut

right through the middle of Brynäs itself, which

in turn was then planned according to a strict

rectangular grid plan with several park-like bou-

levards. It was decided that seven streets would

cross the main street. Inspiration for all of this

came from Europe, where many major cities were

investing in measures aimed at improving people’s

health. It was hoped that large boulevards would

help both air and light to circulate better.

1888 1897

amazing to see today how they can see life from a broader perspective,” continued Sarah Galfvensjö.

Anis Alnajjar, 16, is the only one of the group with any genuine stage experience. As a student at Sörby School, he was involved in the production of a modern version of Romeo and Juliet, the impossible ro-mance being between an immigrant and a Swede.

“I played Romeo, obviously!” said Anis, raising an eyebrow meaningfully.

“But this is something else. We want to give a better image of ourselves and of our neighbourhood – that’s the most important thing. I love Brynäs; it’s my home. That’s why I hate all the rumours about the criminality here, with people saying there’s always trouble. We really want to do something about chang-ing the poor image.”

Haris Cejvan, Hakar Salih, Abdi Omar, Anas Alnajjar, Haval Salih and Sait Bajrami have backgrounds from all over the world, but today each of them lives in Brynäs – an area they all love.

Brynäsgatan 35 was Gavlegårdarna’s very first building, and was constructed in 1897. You can read more about this later, starting on page 39.

“We want to give a better image of ourselves and of our neighbourhood – that’s the most important thing”

34 | 2014

1897Construction of Brynäs School began shortly after

the turn of the century, and was completed in 1907.

Stone buildings lined Brynäsgatan, with commercial

premises on the ground floor. On the streets crossing

this main road were houses with large courtyards,

surrounded by painted fences or higher panels. There

were many tradesmen based in this suburb, offering

their services. Around the turn of the century there

were also numerous stables and barns in the Brynäs

area, where horses could graze in the Steneberg

Park. The public health committee carried out fre-

quent inspections in the district, not least in the many

small grocery stores.

1907 1920Brynäs Elementary School, in the area called “Hyveln” on the right. To the left is the Parish Hall, in the area called “Tallen”.

Eå Everything is calm and peaceful in the lo-cal bakery. The bakers have gone home for the day, but there is

still plenty of freshly-baked bread on the shelves.

Kicki Eriksson, the manager here, said the bakery has been grow-ing steadily since the new owners took over about a year ago.

“We’re selling our local bread in

more and more shops here. Further-more, a lot of the citizens of Gävle have discovered that there’s a bakery up here in Brynäs which is open every day. It’s much easier to park here than in the city centre if you want to drop in and buy some fresh bread,” she said.

The bell on the door rang, and Stinalis Jonholt came in to collect the Budapest cake she had ordered.

“I tried this cake at a friend’s house and thought it was just won-

derful. Now it’s my sister’s birthday, and I just wanted to get the same type of cake for her. I had no idea that there was a bakery in Brynäs; to be honest, I hardly knew where Väpnargatan was,” she said.

Kicki Eriksson smiled as she packed the cake into a box and tied it with white lace.

“But now you know!” she said, “And you’ll be very welcome back here again in the future.”

“From my flat on Tallgatan, I have views across the entrance to Gävle Harbour, over the River Gavleån, over Gävle Strand, and across city itself. In calm weather, I can hear the bells at the City Hall from my balcony. I’m so happy living in Brynäs; the area feels lived-in and there’s a broad mixture of buildings. I rented the flat unseen when I moved here from Falun, because I knew I really wanted to move here.” said Elisabet Fahlmark.

Kicki Eriksson, manager of the local bakery.

2014 | 35

In the period after the First World War,

pride in the suburb of Brynäs grew. The

small, worn down and “standard poor”

houses began to breed plans for develop-

ment. Gavlegårdarna was created, and

the company bought its first property,

Brynäsgatan 35. Large national housing

cooperatives and housing associations

employed architects from Gävle to draw

up plans for new houses back then.

In the 1930s, Brynäs was a part of the city

where clubs, associations, and entrepre-

neurship were all blossoming. Most of the

Gävle’s car companies were located here,

for example. Additionally, in some of the

numerous premises, clubs and associa-

tions began to form, especially ones invol-

ved in politics, trade unions, and sport.

Gävle’s first youth centre opened in 1939,

at Staffansgården. It was initiated by,

among others, the directors of Gavle-

gårdarna, who leased the premises and

provided financial support to the fund

which was created. The objective was to

put a stop to all the disturbance that was

taking place at Mejseln, where there were

a lot of children and young people living.

According to the official local archives,

these boys grew up to be “relatively

well-behaved members of society,

most of them”.

1920s 1930s 1939

Cilla Englund is one of Gavlegårdarna’s managers in Brynäs. She too is well aware of what is said about

the area and, indeed, what has been said throughout history of the area, namely that it’s a troubled neigh-bourhood.

“My mother grew up here, and back then it was sometimes called ‘Little Chicago’. However, Mum

never perceived it that way, and I don’t either. If I look at the statistics, I see that we have virtually no vandalism, and the amount of graffiti has de-creased noticeably of late,” said Cilla.

She continued, “Maybe it’s got something to do with the infra-structure itself; the district was planned as a proper big city with the streets crossing the main thorough-fare. Or perhaps it’s just a leftover impression from the years when a lot

of people here were poor and had a very tough life … I don’t know. But for us, and for the tenants we meet, Brynäs is a quiet, leafy, and pleasant residential district, with plenty of places for socialising.”

In terms of the number of flats

“Brynäs a quiet, leafy, and pleasant residential district”

Henry’s Men’s and Women’s Hairdressing Salon is on the fifth of the streets that cross Brynäsgatan, on the ground floor of a block of flats in Mejseln. There have been hairdressers here since the building was constructed. Monica Johansson-Musikka lives in Gökuren in Brynäs, and has worked at Henry’s for 38 years. In the picture, she can be seen cutting Gabriel Johansson’s hair.

Cilla Englund, one of Gavlegårdarna’s housing managers in Brynäs.

36 | 2014

there, Brynäs is Gavlegårdarna’s largest housing estate.

There are 2,400 rental flats and commercial premises here, owned by the municipal housing company. In addition to all the public housing, there are also properties owned by housing associations and coopera-tives, other rental flats, houses, and also some terraced houses.

“There’s a mixture of proper-ties, and that creates a pleasant

atmosphere. Furthermore, it’s nice that the suburb is built on a hill yet consists predominantly of low-rise properties. We only have one build-ing that is more than five storeys high,” said Cilla Englund.

“When I sit outside our district office in the mornings, it just feels great. I see people working at the bakery opposite, I watch the staff at Samhall open up for the day, and activity starts to pick up outside the

“There’s a mixture of properties, and that creates a pleasant atmosphere”

Between 1947 and 1957, Gavlegårdarna

began construction in several different

areas. The focus was on flats with one

to three rooms, each with a kitchen. At

Brynäsberget, six blocks of flats were

built, along with a number of laminated

houses that were then considered to be

very beautiful and modern. But at the

same time, the neighbourhood began

to be afflicted with a bad reputation. In

adverts for housing in local newspapers, it

wasn’t uncommon for the author to write

“not in Brynäs”.

1947–1957In 1956, the tram route was replaced by

two bus routes. The trees along Brynäs-

gatan were obscuring the light, and were

therefore cut down. The road itself was

widened, to meet the demands of the

increasing traffic.

1956Between 1957 and 1967, Gavlegårdarna

built 440 flats in a meadow area that

housed the famous workers’ housing

known as the Atlaskåkarna. The new area

was called Herrgårdshagen, and Gävle’s

first kindergarten opened here, at

Eriksbergsgården.

1957–1967

For 37 years, there has been a shop called Gävle Blommor in the corner of Agötorget (one of Gävle’s squares) selling flowers and presents. Originally, it was on two floors and also sold clothes. Today, the charming shop, run by the mother and daughter partnership of Gunilla and Lotta Engström, sells flowers and interior decor. “People come in from all over Gävle, but we get a lot of new customers who are astonished that there’s a shop like this in Brynäs.”

flats and houses. It’s small-scale here, but it’s still a big area. Our street looks a lot like that street in the film Notting Hill; the difference is simply that the door to Gavli’s is yellow instead of blue!” said Cilla Englund, laughing.

2014 | 37

The carpentry work-shop at lower Brynäs is well-equipped, to say the least. It has almost everything a

professional carpenter could need, with a solid and reliable selection of machines and tools that have been purchased during the many years the workshop has been in operation. Both the Union of Tenants and the tenants themselves have a strong presence in this area. Thanks to their commitment and involvement, there is a functioning system for the disposal of bulky refuse, and they are also responsible for the carpentry,

an outdoor gym, pottery, weaving, a sewing circle, an indoor gym, plants, and the roofs over the patios.

It was Wednesday on this par-ticular day, which was ladies’ day in the carpentry workshop. Lena Eriksson and Sonja Olsson were us-ing sandpaper to enthusiastically sand down the gnomes they had sawn out, which would later be painted in the painting room next door.

“We’re a group that’s very ac-tive. We meet up for carpentry, our sewing circle, for weaving, and for ceramics. In addition to all of this, we’ve lived in the area for a long time, getting on for thirty years in

some cases, so our social cohesion is very strong,” said Lena Eriksson.

“Yes, you’ve got plenty to talk about. In addition to all of these activities, you go to the second-hand shop for coffee twice a week!” shouted Göte Olsson with a grin.

Göte is perhaps the most profes-sional of the carpenters. He takes orders for dressing mirrors, flower stands, stools, and large tables.

“I just started with a birdhouse,” said Raimo Emil Suvando, laughing.

As said, these neighbours do a lot of things together. And one thing they all agree on is that they love their Brynäs.

Sonja Olsson and Lena Eriksson are neighbours. They meet up every Wednesday in the carpentry workshop at lower Brynäs.

Göte Olsson has just finished the plate rack that his daughter ordered.

Marjatta Vatunen isn’t just a carpenter girl; she also leads the pottery group, which is one of the many activities that the Union of Tenants in Lower Brynäs provides for the residents.

The really big transformation of Brynäs took

place during the 1960s and 1970s. Until then,

there were still many families living without

an inside toilet. Many buildings back then also

had very poor foundations, and were literally

sinking into the ground. The district under-

went a series of demolitions, which involved

shops closing and tenants being evacuated to

the newly-built areas of Sätra and Anders-

berg. Many of them never returned.

1960-tal 1971Brynäsgatan, with the Patronen district in the background.

38 | 2014

BrynäsBrynäsgatan 35

Brynäs-gatan 35The start for AB Gavlegårdarna

The original inscription on the polished yellow ochre gable has been preserved. The text - Bygdt 1897 (or “Built 1897”) – is a reminder

of a time when there was a housing short-age and conditions were difficult for many people. But it is also a reminder that there was hope for the future. 1897 was the year when a group of Gävle citizens decided to set up an association that would attempt to improve the situation. Together, they built the house that still stands in the Tallen district today. In return for ten kronor, buyers were guaranteed a room in the building, whose original plans, hand-drawn on yellowed paper, clearly show the beauty of the building as well as its period design.

In Brynäs, it’s possible to live in a flat with creaky floors,

wooden mouldings, and the feeling of a bygone era. Many

buildings from the first half of the 20th century have been

preserved, but there are also houses with an even longer his­

tory. For example, Brynäsgatan 35 was the very first property

owned by Gavlegårdarna, and that was built way back in 1897.

Anna Bäck has lived in her flat at Brynäsgatan 35 since 1998 - and she’s very happy there.

Total renovation in 1957.

The kitchen has a new floor and ceramic tiles typical of the period. From the breakfast table, her son Dennis can see his schoolyard at the venerable Brynäs School.

Dennis and the cat, Frans, playing in the sunlight from the large windows in the living room.

40 | 2014

The original plans for the house at Brynäsgatan 35 are dated 1896. Records of payments made, along with information from the tax office from 1917, show a list of the tenants - and their job titles - who lived in the building at the time Gavlegårdarna purchased it.

2014 | 41

When Gavlegårdarna was formed in 1917,

the property in the Tallen district was

the first one that the company bought

– for a total of SEK 58,000. The history

of the building, however, goes further

back than that. Shortly before the turn

of the century, the housing crisis led to

the first so-called housing associations

in Gävle being formed. In 1897, the

Brynäs Housing Association sold shares

in the building that had been planned

for Brynäsgatan 35. Each share of ten

kronor entitled the buyer to a room. The

house was built of stone and had three

storeys. It contained 21 flats, 33 firepla-

ces, and three single rooms with a stove.

The flats were grouped around the two

hallways, and they each had wardrobes,

a larder, and a cloakroom. There was

Brynäsgatan 35

Andreas Thunarf has lived at Brynäsgatan 35 together with his partner for four years. “You can’t compare this property with just any old property; living like this is unique. We didn’t actually set out to get a flat in this building, but now that we’re here, we wouldn’t swap our flat with anyone.”

The house at Brynäsgatan 35 is now surrounded by greenery, and stands between two other buildings with an almost equally long history. On one side is Staffansgården, and on the other is Brynäs School. The gatehouses are gently arched and the staircases are wide. The one tower-like stairwell can still be seen between the two entrances.

Anna Bäck bor med sonen DeAnna Bäck lives with her son Dennis in a three-room flat on the first floor. The family has lived in the building since 1998, and Anna knew exactly what she was looking for back then.

“I was in the housing queue for here and for Mejseln. But when I came here, it simply felt right. Be-cause, with these flats, it’s all about feeling. What was actually built at that time is irreplaceable; there’s just history everywhere.”

The proximity to the city centre, the high ceilings, the large windows, and the lovely atmosphere are just a few of the advantages highlighted by Anna Bäck. She has even restored some of the period features in the flat that were lost in the total renovation that was carried out in the 1950s. Her kitchen now has new rectangular ceramic tiles, and the skirting boards are wide and made of wood.

The interior of Brynäsgatan 35 during the early years. The reconstruction was made in cooperation with the Nordic Museum.

“If I were to be living in a similar flat in town, perhaps on Staketgatan, the rent would be very much higher. Furthermore, I would probably have had to make a down payment along the way before getting such a flat. Today, instead, I rent my home, and I don’t even need to worry if something breaks and needs fixing. It suits me just perfectly.”

a laundry room with facilities to heat

water down in the basement, along with

cooking facilities and a wash sink.

The property was extended over the

years, and new wings shot out, including

one along the seventh road that crosses

Brynäsgatan. A total renovation was

carried out in 1957, after which the cera-

mic stoves all disappeared and were re-

placed by central heating. All of the flats

now also had a bathroom. The smallest

flats were converted into one five-room

flat. The ground floor was fitted out for

a dental surgery, one that remained in

the building until some years into the

2000s. Today, even the premises from

which the dentists once worked are now

one large flat.

42 | 2014

Gavlegårdarna and the sweet factory

The 600 new flats that are being built on

the Läkerol site are not going to form just any

new residential suburb. The vision here is of a

vibrant area that has both an urban and a local

neighbourhood feel about it. And the roots of

the old industrial culture here will now become

a brand name for what is going to be created.

A year has passed since the people of Gävle were given the news that Gavlegårdarna had purchased the

area around the old Läkerol factory and now planned to build almost 600 new flats there.

The start of the actual construc-tion work itself has been scheduled for 2017 at the earliest, but that doesn’t mean that work on the 47,000m² site is at a standstill.

“We’ve been working with vi-sions and ideas about what we really want to create with this new dis-trict,” said Lars Bergmark, business developer at Gavlegårdarna.

“This is the largest individual project that Gavlegårdarna has ever embarked upon, which is why it’s so important that the planning is carried out very thoroughly. Today we’re convinced that this will be much more than just an ordinary,

newly-built residential suburb,” he continued.

“We’ve talked a lot about the soul and character of the area, about maintaining the historical values

from here, and then pairing them with the perceptions and feelings of a modern, urban neighbourhood. We think this will be very attractive for many different people.

This visionary work has led Gav-legårdarna to look closely at similar constructions around the world. The company has also met external architects, city planners, and profes-sors, all to generate ideas about how the area could be developed.

“It’s important to learn more about how to create vibrant meeting places that feel natural. How do you create the general hustle and bustle that we’d like? The solution isn’t to simply build a square if people aren’t in some way drawn to it,” said Lars Bergmark.

“In order to succeed, it’s impor-tant to start from the perspectives of the site and the people, not the type of building that will stand there. We must take care to find out how those who will be living in the area and visiting it would like everything to be,” he continued.

Lars also spoke of the impor-tance of preserving the feeling that has always characterised the area - and indeed the whole of the adjoin-ing suburb of Brynäs.

“We want to mix residential properties with commercial proper-ties that are running a good variety of businesses. Residents and entre-preneurs together create activity during the greater part of the day. Obviously we’d like there to be a good range of services here, such as shops and restaurants, but the main purpose of the project is to create new housing in Gävle,” said Lars Bergmark.

At the moment, Gavlegårdarna is looking for a creative architect who will, during the autumn, take part in the next phase of the planning programme.

“Together with the municipality, we are starting to sketch out the first rough ideas. How do we link the new area better with the “å-rummet” area down by the river, with Brynäs and Gävle Strand? What sort of block structure should we be aiming for? Which values should we especially be considering, and which buildings should we be preserving?” asked Lars.

“We have at least three buildings that the Cloetta antiquarian study has recommended we should pre-serve. But there’s going to be a lot of new construction in the area, and there we’re looking to create homes that fit in with the old cultural envi-ronments,” he said.

Perhaps some of the buildings in the factory area that were constructed in recent years can also be reused in the new suburb. There are both ware-houses and industrial buildings that could, for example, be used as car parks. There will, after all, probably be a lot of demand for car parking in an area with new 600 homes.

“There will no doubt be a lot of discussion about what should

“This is the largest individual project that Gavlegårdarna has ever embarked upon”

44 | 2014

In 1916, Adolf Ahlgren bought a piece of land in

lower Brynäs, an industrial area in Gävle. His

company, Ahlgrens, already had two factories

in the centre of Gävle at that time, but Adolf had

plans to invest further in the confectionary side of

the company. The first buildings on the new site

were erected that same year and then, in 1921, a

new modern factory was constructed. The new

premises were bright, with concrete floors and

tiled walls. The three storeys contained manu-

facturing areas, a canteen, changing rooms for

the workers, a medical room, a laundry room, and

water closets. The buildings were heated by me-

ans of a central heating system, something that

wasn’t common even in residential properties at

that time. New buildings have appeared on the

site over the years, always starting out from the

original factory. In 1963, all of Ahlgrens’ factories

were in Brynäs. The last major expansion of

the factory took place in 1991, when some new

production buildings and a new main entrance

were constructed.

Source: The County Museum, Ulrika Olsson,

architectural curator

The Läkerol area

be demolished and what should be preserved. It’s therefore important to have both a curator and a creative architect in the working group,” said Lars Bergmark.

Gavlegårdarna believe that the Municipality of Gävle will be able to start work on the detail planning,

which will make the new design of the area more specific, sometime during the winter of 2016.

“That’s when the focus will be more on which parts of the site can be built on, how high the buildings are allowed to be, and where parks and other green areas should be situ-ated,” said Lars.

“If everything goes according to plan, construction should get

underway in 2017 or, more likely, 2018. There will be different phases in the construction work, and it’s quite likely that we won’t be build-ing everything ourselves. We think it would be best if other developers were also involved, so we get a good mixture of owner-occupied and

rental flats,” he continued.“The most important thing is

that area as a whole should give the impression of having its roots in an industrial culture; that’s where we think the branding for this type of construction should lie. We think that more people will want to live here if they know that we’ve left some traces behind, a memory of bygone times,” he concluded.

“If everything goes according to plan, con­struction should get underway in 2017 or 2018”

The new suburb will connect up Gävle Strand, the “å-rummet” area by the river, and Brynäs.

2014 | 45

More and more are able to carry on living in their own homes

Gavlegårdarna’s active

social living work is giving

clear results. The statistics

for 2014 show that more

and more tenants are

paying their rent on time.

“You avoid reminder

fees, debt collection agency

demands, and all the worry

and anxiety,” said Roberth,

housing advisor at Gavle­

gårdarna.

The Social Living Group (“bosociala”) has worked closely together right from the start in 2013. The group’s

objective has always been clear: to ensure that as few tenants as possible get into debt because of their rent not being paid on time.

“In the end it is all about evicting as few people as possible, a figure that the media is always focused on. But we usually say that the number of eviction notices served is just as important - perhaps even more im-portant. In practice, we might have no enforced evictions carried out one month, yet still 500 people will have received an eviction notice from the Bailiff,” said Roberth.

“If it means that people don’t have to go through the feeling of

terror that receiving such a letter creates, then we’ve immediately done something right. Especially if there are families with children involved,” he continued.

The Social Living Group has therefore focused on helping people in good time, well before the threat of possible eviction looms. In doing so, the group has also managed to bring down the number of reminders, addi-tional fees, payment injunctions, and debt collection agency demands.

“Tenants can call us every day to talk about their potential problems. We can give them a brief grace period if they are waiting for money to come in, for example their unem-ployment or sick benefit payments. However, at the same time, our rules are very clear. We’ve managed to get the message out there that there’s no point in calling us month after month,” said Gunilla, a caseworker in the Social Living Group.

“More people today seem to understand how important it is to give their rental payments priority. The number of calls we receive has dropped dramatically during 2014, as has the number of cases being passed to debt collection agencies. That figure hasn’t been as low as it is today for several years,” she continued.

Since June 2013, Gavlegårdarna has been working in collabora-tion with Social Services in Gävle. There were two people working within the project “BoKvar” (which means “keep living where you are”)

in 2014, both employees of Social Services. They worked by making unannounced visits to tenants who had not paid their rent. Over a two-year period, Åsa and Carola knocked on well over 5,000 doors in Gav-legårdarna’s housing portfolio.

“We’ve carried out an incred-ible number of house calls. For some tenants there was just the odd visit, but for some people we’ve got involved in all aspects of their lives. We’ve been able to be a resource for

“Tenants can call us every day to talk about their problems”

46 | 2014

them, to help them resolve the nega-tive situation in which they’ve found themselves,” said Carola.

“We’ve guided people to places where they can get help, we’ve pepped them, coached them, and looked for solutions for them for the future. Because we come from Social Services, we have a lot of knowledge and contacts that can be very use-ful,” she continued.

“I feel that, in many cases, we’ve been able to inspire hope,” she added.

“Our job is to ‘nip problems in the bud’, and the statistics now show that we’re doing just that. We can clearly see that this is beneficial, not only financially but also in terms of human suffering,” said Carola.

The BoKvar project finished at the end of 2014, but both Roberth and Carola hope that the work will continue to be done in some form.

“If we go back to our former, more passive role, I’m fairly certain

that the figures will turn upwards again. Our active role, reaching out to help, makes you - as a tenant - feel seen. Only then might you find the strength to start dealing with these problems,” said Roberth.

“Now we have an established working method, one where we’re fast, flexible, accessible, and meet a lot of people, face to face. All the figures show that this work really pays off,” continued Carola.

Roberth nodded, and emphasised that Gavlegårdarna’s results here are positive in many ways.

“The statistics look good when we see how much they have improved. However, they also look good when we compare ourselves with other housing companies,” he said.

A large credit management service organisation, Intrum Justitia, has also observed that our rate of solving these problems is high when compared with others.

• Figures from Social Services show that

benefits paid out to offset plain rent arrears

decreased by SEK 450,000 during 2014.

• The Deacons Council in Gävle announced

that it did not have to help as many people

with their rent during 2014 as it had in

previous years. It has also noticed that more

people are asking for help in good time;

fewer cases concern a large pile of unpaid

rental invoices.

• In 2014, 98.5 per cent of all rent was paid on

time. The corresponding figure for 2013 was

96.8 per cent. Gavlegårdarna’s goal for 2015

is to reach 99 per cent.

• A total of 1,597 cases were dealt with and

closed by Gavlegårdarna’s BoKvar project

during 2014. Of all of these, 1,503 (94 per

cent) have continued to live in their homes.

This collaborative project between Gavle-

gårdarna and Gävle’s Social Services began

in June 2013 and was extended two years later

by an additional six months.

Two social workers based at the University

of Gävle are currently writing a paper where

they look more closely at how collaboration

between public housing and social services

affects the overall housing situation. Is this

type of collaboration a successful way of

reducing homelessness?

The paper is part of the evaluation pro-

cess of the project which in turn can then

be extended or, alternatively, integrated

into Gavlegårdarna’s ordinary day-to-day

activities.

Social Living statistics

The BoKvar project

2012 2013 20140

1

2

3

4

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

50

100

150

200

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

1 000

2,000

3 000

4,000

5 000

6,000

7 000

8,000

Number of cases passed for debt collection

2012 2013 20140

1

2

3

4

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

50

100

150

200

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

1 000

2 000

3 000

4 000

5 000

6 000

7 000

8 000

Proportion of rent unpaid in % (average value)

2012 2013 20140

1

2

3

4

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

50

100

150

200

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

1 000

2 000

3 000

4 000

5 000

6 000

7 000

8 000

Number of evictions

2012 2013 20140

1

2

3

4

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

50

100

150

200

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

1 000

2 000

3 000

4 000

5 000

6 000

7 000

8 000

Number of eviction notices served *

* Where the tenant has received a letter from the Enforcement Authority giving the date and time of the planned eviction.

2014 | 47

Last year’s pilot project had six hand-picked participants, all of

whom were voluntary leaders for children and young people.

After their graduation, the initiators of the project, Gavlegår-

darna and Brynäs IF, carried out a thorough evaluation of the

ideas and their implementation. The results were positive and

Gavlegårdarna has extended its collaboration agreement with

Brynäs, now with the primary objective of running the Leader-

ship Academy every year. The training will be a natural part of

one of Brynäs’ regular activities – entitled “A Good Start” – which,

together with UNICEF, works for the good of children and young

people in Gävle. Now, thanks to the Leadership Academy, 24 new

leaders will be trained and (hopefully) graduate every year.

enbrastart.brynas.se

The Leadership Academy

Stefan Utby, the person who is responsible for youth activities at Bry-näs IF, is both pleased and proud with the

group that took part in this spring’s Leadership Academy. The first pilot project laid the foundations for the “permanent” academy, but there have been a lot of developments along the way this year.

“We had twice as many partici-pants in 2014, twelve in all. But we also met more often, and spent many hours together. I would say that it’s been pretty hard work, but now they’ve got a really solid education,” said Stefan.

Pure theory sessions were mixed with study trips in reality, as well as guest appearances by external lecturers, some of them nationally famous. The previous participants told us about their experiences, and the consensus is that mentoring should somehow be made available

involving all of the Leadership Aca-demy students.

Matilda Fernlund is the trainer and practitioner at Soo Shim Taek-wondo Club in Gävle. The children she trains are aged 4–7, and it’s not always easy for her to communicate her knowledge to the group.

“I found that I was often unsure myself and was always trying to find new things for the children to do, so that they wouldn’t get bored. Thanks to the Leadership Academy, I learned much more about how to build the children’s trust and confi-dence,” she said.

She continued, “I go to school myself, and sometimes it’s not the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever done. But at the academy, we were just a small group of mixed students, and we had some really interesting and useful discussions. I think about a lot of what we touched upon every day, even in the other aspects of my life. I am more pleased than I expected to be, and I’m

really grateful that I got to take part in the Leadership Academy.”

Shnah Pishnemaz has a leadership role in a completely different sphere. She is an employee at a home for unaccompanied refugee children, and she is often the closest adult contact many of the young people she works with actually have in their lives. “They don’t come to me to pursue a hobby or something and then go home; they literally live where I work. But at the Leadership Academy, we could nevertheless see relevant common denominators. No matter how our everyday reality looks, all of us had something we could relate to,” she said.

“I got so many new, practical tools that I can use, and I have this enormous gratitude for everything I’ve learned,” she added.

The goal, namely to get more good leaders for the children and young people of Gävle, has been secured. Thanks to Gavlegårdarna’s collaboration with Brynäs IF, the Leadership Academy pilot project has now been made permanent.

24 new leaders every year

Shnah Pishnemaz

Matilda Fernlund

Shnah Pishnemaz, Sandra Schreiber Berg, Filip Åberg, Rasmus Liljedahl, Hassan Haji, Filip Eriksson (hidden behind Matilda), Matilda Fernlund, David Strand, Janne Andersson, Mattias Frisk, Sofia Amanuel Haile. Jenna Lindberg is missing from the picture.

48 | 2014

Every third resident of Gävle lives behind one of Gavlegårdarna’s front doors. There are people living in each and every one of our flats whose lives are completely different.

One person might have just left home for the first time; the next might have been recently widowed. In the next flat, there could be so-meone creating their first home in – to them – a new, foreign country.

Everyone has different interests, opinions and tastes. And everyone decorates their home based on their own personality.

We visited three families in Gävle and were allowed to take a look into the environment where they all feel most at home.

The colours black

and white, with

numerous copper

features, set the

tone for the

two-room flat in

Mejseln in Brynäs

where Alexandra

Jönsson lives with

her daughter Naija.

58

THREE HOMES,THREE STYLES

The Rosén family has lived in this flat in Valbo since 1961. Three

generations of the family have lived here over the years, and

much of the furniture has been there from the very beginning.

The Aliji family has, together with Versace’s designs,

created a very personal style in their flat in Brynäs.

They have made room for some bling-bling too.

50

54 2014 | 49

The small three-room flat in Mejseln, in Brynäs, just breathes peace and harmony. The walls are a warm grey, the

windows are tall, and the recesses deep. Alexandra Jönsson was sitting on the floor with her daughter Naija, cutting princesses out of paper. Her working day at the hairdressing salon was over, and Naija had been picked up from the kindergarten.

“Everything I need in my every-day life is here in Brynäs, and it’s also really close to the city centre. I can get along just fine without a car, although occasionally I borrow Mum’s,” said Alexandra, lifting up her daughter.

Alexandra is 22 years old, and a young mother. Two months after graduating from the hairdressing training programme, she found herself in the maternity ward.

“I didn’t exactly plan it that way, and of course I was worried about a lot of things, especially when I knew that I would have to take most of the responsibilities on myself. But it still felt so natural to carry her and to keep her,” she said, stroking Naija’s cheek.

“In the past, I mostly just sat and talked in class: I didn’t take school or life very seriously,” said Alexandra.

“But so much happened to me during my pregnancy. I wouldn’t have got the scholarship I received

for my final project if I hadn’t been pregnant,” she laughed.

The good school results meant that she got a job immediately graduation. She had time to work for two months in the Brynäs hairdressing salon before she went on maternity leave.

“I was living in my first flat back then, in the city centre. However, all the time I was looking for different housing, not least for Naija’s sake. When I started working again and she got a place in the kindergarten up here in Brynäs, this was the suburb where I wanted to live as well – ideally in Mejseln”, Alexandra explained.

Alexandra Jönsson lived for a while in the Mejseln area of Brynäs with her mother. The flat

there whetted her appetite and, even when she first got a flat of her own in the city centre,

she always longed to return. Today she is living in the flat of her dreams – which she got

due to pure luck.

Alexandra got her dream flat

A branch Alexandra found in the forest that she stripped and sanded to make a perfect coat stand.

50 | 2014

from Limö Café

Repainted table

set the tone

Black and white

Alexandra Jönsson, 22, lives in Brynäs with her 3-year-old daughter, Naija.

What’s the best thing about living in Brynäs?“I have everything here - my flat, my job, my sister,

and Naija’s kindergarten. There are plenty of

playgrounds, and we often go to Steneberg Park,

especially in the summer when they fill a little pool

there for the small children.”

What’s the best thing about your flat?“The lovely big windows that let in so much light.

The sun goes down outside the windows of the

living room and kitchen in the evening, and the

view is fantastic.”

What would you like to change in the flat?“I’ve always wanted to change wallpaper in the hall.

It looks like the wallpaper from a bachelor pad!”

Which is your favourite room?“Both the living room and Naija’s room. We often

just mess about together, and we rarely watch

television. But I’m pleased with the kitchen too,

which I recently wallpapered with the help of a

friend.”

What’s your style of interior décor?“There’s a lot of black and white, mixed with relax-

ing natural colours. Recently I’ve acquired a lot of

things that are made of copper.”

The Mejseln DistrictThere is a building called “Mejseln”, designed by

the city architect E.A Hedin, which was built in the

district of the same name. The housing associa-

tion for Gefle Workers constructed some 20 flats

in this building in 1897. A few years later, in 1903,

the property was extended by a similar amount.

There were also premises for shops on the

ground floor. Gavlegårdarna bought the property

in 1919. Between the years 1924-1936, Mejseln

was renovated and turned into 102 flats.

3 rooms and a kitchen, 65m2, in Mejseln, Brynäs

2014 | 51

“My mother called me one mor-ning and told me that this flat had appeared on “Direkten” (which is Gavlegårdarna’s website where flats are available even for people with no queue points). I’d only been in the queue for a few years but, because of the new lottery system, I was sud-denly number one in line for the flat. It was pure luck; I can almost believe that it was fate,” continued Alexan-dra, smiling.

“The flat is really nice, not least because it’s so old. The large windows and the wide wooden mouldings aren’t easy to find in a flat today. And if you want to live in a place like this, part of the deal is that there will be a lot of very intricate surfaces to dust!” she added.

Alexandra explained her love of interior design, and there are traces all over the flat of her artistic efforts, fixtures, and general interest in décor.

“I’m always very sure of what I want. If I find something I like, I’ll buy it, even if I have to save up for a while first. However, I don’t really have a uniform style; on that subject it’s harder for me to decide. At the moment, there’s something of a dif-

ferent style in every room,” she said.“I don’t want my flat to look like

everyone else’s, nor can there be too much of something. I’m inspired a lot by various different blogs and I’m almost always sitting here messing about with something. Often with Naija, but also later on in the eve-nings after she’s gone to bed.”

In Alexandra’s three-room flat, auction finds and family heirlooms mix with more industrial influences, in black, white, and copper. The dragonfly is a recurring detail in the flat and is depicted even more permanently in Alexandra’s life by a tattoo on her hip.

“I’ve lost people who were very close to me; both my father and my brother. On both occasions, dragon-flies showed up in a direct connec-tion with the way that I received the news. And my grandmother often tells me that, when I was small, I used to spend a lot of time by a brook at her summerhouse where

there were always lots of dragon-flies,” said Alexandra.

“They mean something to me and I like them very much. Maybe that’s why I want them around my home.”

Naija ran out into the newly-wall-papered, black-and-white-striped, kitchen and picked up a few grapes. Alexandra stretched out on the mode-rately worn, brown leather couch and said, “It’ll be difficult to move from here. I was looking at an owner-occu-pier flat, because I’m wondering if it might be a good idea to buy a home, but it was so dark ... even though it was bigger than mine. And everyth-ing there was plastic! I didn’t value all the old things here at Mejseln specifically when I said I wanted move here, but now I realise what a huge difference they actually make.”

“I’m always very sure of what I want. If I find something I like, I’ll buy it, even if I have to save up for a while first”

52 | 2014

and high ceilings

Warm grey

Naija’s room is full of little things crafted by Mum and daughter together. Beautiful drawings are mixed with butterflies, made from folded paper of different shapes and colours.

Alexandra first saw the greenhouse light on a blog, and later asked for it as a birthday present. “Now I’ve sown some seeds, and I’m hoping to see rocket, lettuce, and basil sprouting up here soon. Mum will have to take over the tomatoes if they grow as they should, because I haven’t got a balcony.”

Alexandra’s flat

antique chest

The colour scale at

Photo wall and

Alexandra inherited this chest from her grandfather.

Alexandra made this headboard, together with her grandmother. The mandatory dragonfly appears on both the bed and pillow.

2014 | 53

The Aliji family, consisting of mother Hanuma and children Selma, 17, Elma, 14, Melissa, 11 and Theo, 5, lives in Brynäs. What’s the best thing about living in Brynäs?“It’s close to Steneberg School; that’s a great

school where we’re all very happy.”

What’s the best thing about your flat?“We love it! The rooms are a decent size and there

is an open floorplan. The girls share a bedroom

- when they’re friends! - so we usually have an

extra room with mattresses and a bed if we have

guests. There’s almost always someone sleeping

over here at weekends.”

What’s missing in the flat?“Laundry facilities. There are a lot of people sha-

ring the common laundry room. Sometimes it can

take ten days to get a time to do the laundry.”

What do you use the most?“The living room. That’s where we sit and socia-

lise with each other. Because the kitchen’s con-

nected with the living room, we’re always fairly

close to each other.”

What’s your style of interior décor?“Italian. We have sofas made of cream-white lea-

ther, plenty of gold and bling-bling. Our favourite

designer is Versace.”

in every room

Crystal chandeliers

4 rooms and a kitchen, 90m², in Brynäs

even in the kitchen

Gold and cream-white

54 | 2014

At five years old, Theo loves pirates and, on this occasion, he greeted the family’s visitors with a sword

in his hand. His mother, Hanuma, was standing under the chandelier in the hall, smiling warmly. This four-room flat in Brynäs is used to getting visitors, and there’s always a spare bed available. The Alijis have a large extended family and many friends - and they socialise a great deal.

“Wasn’t it hot yesterday? It almost felt like summer. A lot of our

relatives live in Öster, and we sat outside with them all evening, bar-becuing,” said Hanuma, while Theo laughed, showing the world that he’d just lost both of his front teeth.

Hanuma’s daughters, Elma and Melissa, were both at home, but their older sister, Selma, was away, sleeping at her grandmother’s house.

“Their grandfather passed away a few months ago and now we usu-ally take it in turns to keep Grand-ma company. At weekends, there is always someone sleeping over there,” said Hanuma.

With a background from the war in Yugoslavia, Hanuma Aliji knows that a

beautiful home is nowhere near the most important thing in life. Spending time

with family and friends, and always being ready and willing to help each other

will always come first. But one doesn’t need to exclude the other.

“The children and I love having a nice home, and we’ve really found our style,”

said Hanuma.

The Aliji family – keeping up the style

Hanuma Aliji with her son Theo and daughters Melissa and Elma. The eldest daughter, Selma, is missing from this picture.

“We come from a country where it’s quite normal to do that. You help if you can, and do everything pos-sible to support each other,” she said, sitting down in the living room with the children.

“This wallpaper, for example, we chose from Gavlegårdarna’s range when we moved in, but it was a rela-tive who then did the job of hanging it for us. It’s natural in our family. However, I’m rather surprised that we managed to find wallpaper that suited our tastes; we do rather have our own style,” she laughed.

2014 | 55

The wallpaper, with its high-gloss white pattern on a white back-ground, adorns the entire flat. The Aliji family undeniably have a style that is very different to what we have become accustomed to in recent years; black, white, and bare or aus-tere lines. In this four-room flat in Lower Brynäs, however, it’s warm, cosy, and elegant. The furniture is

heavy and has patterns and orna-mentation. Versace is the idol of the home, and the favourite colours are creamy white, beige, and gold.

“When I was setting up my own first home, I was initially drawn to the more Swedish style. Whenever I went into a typical Swedish home, I thought, ‘Wow, this is how I’d like it!’ at first,” said Hanuma.

“But somehow I began to move away from that, and went back to my own style and taste. I’ve always loved Italian style with a bit of luxury. I must confess that both I and the children like nice things and brand names,” she said, almost apologetically.

“I know that none of all this matters very much really ... but it’s still nicer when everything’s good quality.”

Hanuma Aliji was twelve when the neighbours back home in Serbia came running with a warning in the middle of the night. A vehicle had arrived, a military vehicle, the one that was being used to forcibly collect all of the men who had not responded to the order to report for military service.

The family fled to her father’s workplace, the railway station in Belgrade. They hid in a small room and then, at dawn, they jumped onto a train bound for Germany. With-out packing and without having had time to say goodbye to their loved ones, they were on their way to a new and totally unknown life.

“I saw that my mother was cry-

ing and that my father obviously felt bad. But I was just a child and I didn’t really understand all the implications. Most of all, I thought it was exciting that I would be going abroad,” said Hanuma, allowing her gaze to wander out of the window.

The family ended up in northern Sweden, and quickly began to re-organise their future after it had so suddenly been turned upside down. They learnt the language, studied, and got jobs. They acquired new friends, and the three children grew up. Hanuma, who dreamed of work-ing with children, chose to move to Gävle in order to study the Children and Recreation programme at the upper secondary school there, Pol-hem School.

“But nothing ever goes exactly as planned. I got my first child when I was just 19, and was still planning to complete school. But it wasn’t pos-sible, so I left during the third year,” said Hanuma.

She explained further, “Then I had two more children, but in the periods between being on parental leave, I was always working. Wow, I’ve worked in a lot of different plac-es and in a lot of different branches. Anyone who says there are no jobs

in Gävle is lying. You simply have to get out there; you can’t just sit at home and twiddle your thumbs,” she added, firmly.

For many years, while the first three children were small, the fam-ily lived in Öster, but six years ago it was time to move.

“Theo was about to be born and we needed somewhere a bit bigger. Furthermore, the girls would find themselves a bit closer to Steneberg School if we were to move here. And we really loved this flat; we thought it was so well-planned, open, and bright,” said Hanuma.

She packed up their heavy Versace furniture and moved the family into this new flat. They were all happy there from the very begin-ning. However, when Theo started crawling, Hanuma discovered that her furniture wasn’t the best – at least, not from the youngest family member’s point of view.

“I had, among other things, a display cabinet and some sofas that I loved. But they all had sharp edges, and Theo both cut and hit himself on them. I realised that the children’s best is the most important thing. Accordingly, even though it really hurt, I just sold the lot on Blocket (an online site with classified adverts),” said Hanuma, laughing.

“But I googled Italian furniture on the internet and found some good alternatives. It was still Ver-sace. A lot of gold and creamy white - not the snow white that people of-ten want in Sweden. A much warmer tone,” she said.

“And so bling-bling!” said her daughter Elma, laughing.

“Yes, of course,” replied her mother. “You have to have a bit of bling-bling!”

“When I was setting up my own first home, I was initially drawn to the more Swedish style.”

56 | 2014

Not everyone gets to sit at a kitchen table like this and eat breakfast or do homework. The gold and cream table, as well as the shimmering-gold crocodile-patterned chairs were bought on the internet.

glass and ornamentsCabinet with The display cabinet and the TV table are

Versace’s own brand, and were bought at an online shop based in Västerås. The patterns and ornamentation are typical Versace.

Hanuma found the furniture in the hall at an interior design shop in Gävle, but it was simply too expensive. However, the next day, the shop announced that all furniture was going on sale at half price, and then she jum-ped in straightaway. “I felt so lucky; I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it,” she said.

Hanuma has owned the statue and the paintings in the gold frame for sixteen years. Everything was bought at an interior design shop in Örebro, where her parents were buying furniture.

The delicate lace curtains from Serbia, Hanuma’s homeland.

The crystal chandeliers of various shapes and sizes belong to the Aliji family’s favourites. The large ceiling fixture in the living room has a remote control, and the lights can be switched from blue to yellow.

Versace

Aliji family’s flat

Favourite designer

The colour scale at the

2014 | 57

IaIt is usually said that a congenial home is dependent upon those who are living in it. There was heat radiating from the door to the flat in

central Valbo, despite the fact that this particular Thursday in March was more than just a little grey. Anita Rosén had been baking cookies, and was now offering coffee too. The dog, Berra, was sitting in the living room, looking much better after his recent surgery for a slipped disc.

“We’ve both had heart attacks; Anita’s had one and I’ve had three,” said Karl-Evert Rosén.

“This little fellow has improved our health no end, so we wouldn’t be without him,” he continued, strok-ing Berra’s neck.

The family has lived in this building in the centre for over fifty years. First of all, they lived in a two-room flat, but since 1965 they’ve been in the three-room flat they still have. They’ve never even thought about moving.

“At first, we were probably set on Kalle’s family home,” said Anita, pouring the coffee.

“But when the time for that came, we decided there was just too

much that needed doing with the place. We chose to build a summer cottage by Lake Öjaren instead, and we’ve spent a lot of time there ever since, both during the summer and the rest of the year. We’ve been able to be there with children, family and friends and, oh boy, we’ve had so much fun out there,” she said, laughing.

Karl-Evert added, “Sure, it costs a fair bit to pay rent every month and, when we look at our peers who own properties, they’ve saved a lot of money. But, on the other hand, we’ve had it really easy. And it’s

They can remember the feeling of moving into a home with a private bathroom and a toilet

that could be flushed. Karl­Evert, Anita, and little Ann­Christine Rosén had come to paradise.

Today, 54 years later, they’re still happy in their three­room flat in Valbo.

“This flat has accommodated our entire lives. They’ll have to carry us out if we ever have to

move!” said Anita Rosén.

A pleasant home – for fifty years

The kitchen is relatively newly-renovated in a grey colour that was most likely modern when the house was built in the 1960s. Anita has preserved the fittings from the original.

58 | 2014

Karl-Evert and Anita Rosén live in Valbo with their dog, Berra, in a flat they’ve had since 1961. Their two children plus one grandson have also lived here. What’s the best thing about your flat?“It’s well-planned and it has nice views.”

What’s the best thing about renting a flat?“Convenience. Whenever we’ve needed some minor

repairs doing, we’ve simply called the caretaker who

has always come over immediately. We had one ex-

cellent caretaker-manager for many years. He used

to cut the grass and keep everything so neat and tidy

in the area.”

What’s your worst memory from here over the years?“Replacing the downpipes in the 90s. We had to use

both an outside toilet and an outside shower in the

courtyard for at least a month.”

What’s your best memory from here over the years?“We had a single mother living in the building who

had to work a lot. Her daughter was soon eating pan-

cakes with us every afternoon. Thanks to that, we

were nominated for Neighbours of the Year 2009.”

What’s your style of interior décor?“Family heirlooms meet the more modern. Some of

the furniture here has been in the flat ever since we

moved in. A sideboard that we bought at Lindh’s fur-

niture shop several decades ago has been repainted

twice, and we’re now on to our third suite.”

in the original style

Newly-renovated kitchen 3 rooms and a kitchen, 67.3m², in Valbo

year they moved in

Lamp from the

2014 | 59

“We’ll live here for as long as we possibly can,” said both Anita and Karl-Evert Rosén.

much more fun cutting the grass out there at the cottage.”

They were only sixteen years old when they met at the People’s Amusement Park in Sandviken. Two years later, Anita was pregnant.

“We weren’t living together at the time so this was a minor disaster, but we had our respective parents on our side. I lived at home with Mum and Dad for Ann-Christine’s first year,” said Anita.

“Then we rented a small cot-tage in Lund, outside Valbo, one room and a kitchen, with an outside toilet and a wood-burning stove. We lived there until Ann-Christine was six years old. Then they started building here in the centre, and we applied for a flat immediately,” she continued.

For the rent of sek 299 per month, they got out of having to go to Kalle’s parents’ house for a shower. In the newly-built two-room flat, they had their own bathroom and toilet. Sheer paradise, as they both described it.

“Around the time they began to think about having another child, a three-room flat in the same building became vacant. They moved into it in 1965 and, two years later, their son, Tomas, was born.

“He had to sleep in the same bedroom as us, while Ann-Christine took the third room. There were nine years between them, so it felt natural to solve the problem that way,” said Anita.

“And then Ann-Christine went the same way that we did, and got pregnant when she was eighteen.

There was a period when she, her boyfriend, and the baby were all liv-ing in our flat. You know, anything’s possible if you really want it,” said Anita with a wink.

It’s easy to understand why there’s always been plenty of activity in the flat. The couple’s many friends, along with those of the children, have always been welcome. Also, Kalle’s bridge group got together regularly for many years for a tour-nament in the kitchen.

“At that time everyone smoked everywhere too. Yikes, after just a little while it used to be like a fog in there,” said Anita, and laughed again.

When their son, Tomas, finally left home in 1983, the flat suddenly felt empty. Very empty.

“Yes, of course, it felt strange here with just the two of us. But I al-ways say that at any time when we’ve been tired or angry, we’ve given each other a pat on the back and moved on,” said Anita with a smile.

“Of course it was a bit of a struggle from time to time. At the beginning of our lives together, we sek 100 a week to live on. I used to take Ann-Christine with me and do a little extra work, picking potatoes for the farmers here in Valbo. Kalle drove furniture for Lindh’s out here, and it was only via them that we were able to furnish for our flat. But everyone needs a trial or two in their life. Nowadays, people give up at the first sign of a setback,” she continued.

Kalle looked at Anita and said, “If you’re going to upgrade, first you have to find someone better. I’d never have been able to do that.”

60 | 2014

The couple received this fantastic scale as a wedding present. The thermos flask is a reminder of Kalle’s ten-year period working at the regiment I14 in Gävle.

“I love the wallpaper in the hall and regret not choosing the same for the kitchen too,” said Anita about the flowered design on the wall of the hall.

The bureau came from Kalle’s parental home, and has been with the couple ever since they moved in together. This is also an elec-tric candelabrum that Anita has always been fond of. When the electrical part of it broke down after many years, she transformed it into an ordinary candelabrum.

The sideboard from the 1960s that Kalle has painted twice. The mirror in the hall came

from Anita’s mother’s home and is now painted white.

Anita and her son, Tomas, relaxing cosily in the flat on a Friday evening, sometime in the 1970s. The couch was orange, the armchairs were made of leather, the curtains were flowery, and the rug was a thick pile variant.

year 2015

the parental homes

Rosén couple’s flat

The living room

Inheritance from

The colour scale at the

2014 | 61

Growing into a big city: Gävle is taking shapeGavle is growing ­ and so is the city’s housing queue. At Gavlegårdarna it’s currently full speed ahead on planning future housing.

100 new flats per year – that’s the directive Gavlegårdarna has been given by the company’s owner, the Municipality of Gävle. During 2013, almost 200 newly-built or totally-renovated flats were launched onto market. However, for the year 2014, this figure was significantly lower.

“Three new flats might be considered modest, but you need to remember that, when the subject is housing construction, these num-bers fluctuate over the years,” said Lars Bergmark, business developer at Gavlegårdarna.

“It’s natural that a period when there was a lot of building will be followed by a period when there is a lot of designing and planning for the phase of construction. Right now we’re in the starting blocks for many new housing projects that will be completed over the next few years,” he continued.

That is something that is very much needed. The population of Gävle has increased in recent years, a trend that is expected to con-tinue in 2015. During the first four months of 2015, in fact, the number of people living in Gävle increased by another 260.

“For us, it’s about finding land we can build on in areas where people want to live. However, we also need to find alternative ways to

build houses. Following the easing of some restrictions in the Planning and Building Act, for example, we are now looking at ways of more efficiently producing smaller flats,” said Lars Bergmark.

“We’re carrying out inventories of our loft spaces, to see if we can build a few new flats in some of them; that’s something that it’s now possible to do. And when we build smaller, more space-efficient flats, of course the rent we charge for them is lower,” he continued.

“We believe that this is the right way to go. From the tenant’s perspective, the actual number of square metres in the flat isn’t a vital thing; it’s far more important that the flat is well-planned and easy to live in,” he added.

The new area around Sätra Centre is scheduled for completion in 2017.

62 | 2014

© AB Gavlegårdarna, 2015.

Production: Baringo reklam & kommunikation, in collaboration with AB Gavlegårdarna.

Photography: AB Gavlegårdarna, Albin Bogren, Jana Damröse, Gävle Theatre, iStock, etc.

Historical pictures on pages 3, 30, 33, 35, 38, 41: from Gävle City Archives picture archives.

Historical picture on page 42: from Gävle City Archives picture archives, photography: Nordiska Museum.

Historical pictures on pages 32, 45: County Museum Gävleborg’ photographic collections.

Printing: Gävle Offset AB.

i gävlefler vill bo

livet från On Gavlegårdarna’s agenda

1. Sätra is gaining heightIn the detailed plan for the area around

Sätra Centre, which is out for review at the

moment, there is a very marked change in

the cityscape. Three laminated three-

storey buildings are to be demolished and

three eight-storey tower blocks will be

constructed there instead.

“It may sound strange, but the build-

ings there today are more like a wall up

against the Sätraängarna area, right next

door to a large and often deserted car

park. The new buildings will be even taller,

but they will have a much better feel to

them, offering plenty of views of the green

areas nearby,” said Lars Bergmark.

“We want to open the view across both

the square and the meadows. The car park

will be made smaller, and there will be

more green areas there too. The proposal

has received positive reactions and we

believe everything there could be finalised

by the summer,” he continued.

“We will be tearing down 36 old flats

and building 96 new ones. The building

will be a so-called “Kombohus”, i.e. one

where SABO has already carried out the

public procurement programme, so the

construction process should be fairly

quick,” concluded Lars.

The new area at Sätra Centre should

be ready for people to move into during

2017.

20162015

1. Andersberg and Sätra

are growingWe will be building over 30 flats in An-

dersberg in 2015. The story here is that we

are taking some ground floor commercial

premises and laundry rooms, and con-

verting them into small new flats.

“When the buildings on Vinddraget/

Tordönsgatan were constructed in the

1970s, the plans included rooms for clubs

and other activities on the ground floor

of each one. Many of these rooms are not

being used today,” said Lars Bergmark,

business developer at Gavlegårdarna.

“In several laundry rooms, we’ve been

able to make far more efficient use of the

space there. In this way, we’ve been able

to build small flats that have proved to

be both good value for money and much

sought after,” he continued.

In 2015, a tower block in east Sätra

will also be redeveloped, by turning it into

student housing.

“There will be 52 flats there and, to-

gether with Andersberg, these are the two

biggest projects scheduled for completion

during 2015,” said Lars Bergmark.

2. A number of vacant commercial premises in Valbo and central Gävle are being converted into flats.

A “Kombohus” is a kind of prefab building, developed on behalf of SABO, the

Swedish Association of Public Housing Companies. The objective with the “kom-

bohus” concept is that local public housing companies will be able to build more

rental housing more quickly. The buildings are pre-designed and have already

undergone the public procurement process, making them cheaper to produce.

Kombohus

2. New neighbours to EricssonThe first tenants will hopefully be moving

into the new building that Gavlegårdarna

has planned in Villastaden, next to the

Ericssonska Foundation student housing,

in 2016. The building will be a “Kombo-

hus”, just like the one in Sätra, with a short

construction period. It will contain 12 flats

in total, on three floors.

“Given the huge demands there are

on us to build homes, we are of course

looking at any undeveloped parts of

our properties where we have planning

permission. There is a valid detail plan for

this plot which was finalised in 1999, but

the property was never built,” said Lars

Bergmark.

3. Gävle StrandThe new nursing and care home, complete

with 80 flats, will be ready for occupancy

at the beginning of the year. Planning is

already underway for the rest of the block,

which will contain a further 77 flats.

4. AlmvägenThe new residential area on Almvägen,

with more than 60 flats, will soon be

ready for occupancy.

AB Gavlegårdarna

Box 456,

SE-801 06 Gävle

Tel: +46 (0)26-17 27 00

info@gavlegardarna.se

www.gavlegardarna.se

2014 | 63

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