Advertisement
NEW YEAR SPECIAL: Just £9.99 for the next 8 weeks
SUBSCRIBE
Housing

Ikea to build affordable housing to combat high rents

Swedish furniture giant Ikea will build 36 flats to show it is possible to build genuinely affordable homes

They make your bookcases, bed, lamps, lights and sofas, so why not go ahead and let them build you a home too? Swedish furniture giant Ikea has announced it is building its own apartment block in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.

The 36 flats will be set aside for Ikea employees, but the company CEO has said he wants to combat high rents in Reykjavik and demonstrate that building genuinely affordable housing is possible.

The new flats will be cheaper than what a lot of people are paying to live in a dump, says the company’s CEO

To be constructed and fully furnished (the easy bit) by next summer, the lowest rents for apartments at the Ikea development will be set around 100,000 krona – £716 – each month. “That’s much cheaper than what a lot of people are paying (to live in) a dump,” said Thorinn Ivarsson, the company’s CEO in Iceland.

No doubt many Ikea employees in the south of England would welcome that sort of rent level. The Big Issue has previously examined the legacy of philanthropic and workers’ housing built in the UK during industrial era end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century.

Today, some of the big banks in the City and Canary Wharf are known to provide flats for employees. The Armed Forces have continued to build plenty of accommodation for military personnel. But few of the UK’s biggest employers or most successful companies now feel the need to make sure their workforce has somewhere affordable to live.

Perhaps more big firms should consider the Ikea scheme. Their muscle might just help disrupt the cartel-like control held by small number of major developers over land acquisition and new housebuilding.

Advertisement
Advertisement

If you know of any interesting worker accommodation projects, let us know editorial@bigissue.com or @BigIssue.

Advertisement

Buy a Big Issue Vendor Support Kit

This Christmas, give a Big Issue vendor the tools to keep themselves warm, dry, fed, earning and progressing.

Recommended for you

View all
Meet the 'activist lawyer' who fought for justice for a toddler who died from damp and mould
Awaab's Law lawyer Christian Weaver
Awaab's law

Meet the 'activist lawyer' who fought for justice for a toddler who died from damp and mould

How to help a homeless person on the street in cold weather
Nicholas, in Liverpool, is wearing a grey beanie and coat with lots of layers under it
Homelessness

How to help a homeless person on the street in cold weather

Homelessness facts and statistics: The numbers you need to know in 2025
Homelessness

Homelessness facts and statistics: The numbers you need to know in 2025

Building 1.5 million homes will only 'make a dent' in housing crisis, warns Angela Rayner
Labour housing secretary Angela Rayner
Housing crisis

Building 1.5 million homes will only 'make a dent' in housing crisis, warns Angela Rayner

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know