Bjarg Housing Foundation

Collaboration of the labor movement and the City of Reykjavík

• Labor unions are key partners in addressing Reykjavík's housing challenges. This is the most direct involvement of labor unions in city development projects in decades.
• ASÍ and BSRB are establishing and funding a general housing association to build 1,000 rental apartments.
• Reykjavík City provides land grants or building rights for building rental apartments.

Bjarg Housing Association apartments

Bjarg develops rental apartments and applies for establishment grants from municipalities and the Housing and Construction Authority. The goal is to offer affordable rent through efficient design, planning, development, and operation.

The agreement with Bjarg ensures social mixing in rental housing development. This is achieved by renting or selling some apartments on the open market. Félagsbústaðir Social Housing typically has the right of first refusal for 10-20% of apartments in these projects.

By the end of Q3 2022, Bjarg completed 682 apartments in Reykjavík.

Of the apartments for which the association has already been allocated plots, or for which commitments or declarations of intent have been made, 64 are currently under construction. here are planned lots for 221 apartments, including 56 on buildable lots. Lots for 391 apartments are in the planning process. In development and future areas, 287 apartments are already allocated to Bjarg.

This totals 963 additional apartments to the 682 already built.

In total, Bjarg Housing Association has built, is building, or plans to build 1,645 apartments in Reykjavík in the near future.

Blær Housing Association apartments

BSRB, ASÍ, and VR union have agreed on development through Blær, a non-profit housing association aiming to ensure housing security and affordable rent. Félagsbústaðir Social Housing will have the right to purchase 5% of the total apartments, with a minimum of 2.

A framework agreement allows Bjarg to sell services to Blær, its sister company, for apartment development, utilizing Bjarg's experience.

With Blær, BSRB and ASÍ unions can build and allocate apartments without income limits, achieving efficiency through minimal profitability requirements and using Bjarg's experience.

Reykjavík City has allocated a lot to Blær for 36 rental apartments at Leirtjörn in Úlfarsárdalur.