#20 How do we provide housing for everyone? With Martin Vinæs Larsen

Although Martin Vinæs Larsen has researched housing policy and urban development, he hasn't been as smart in the housing market as he could have been.

He has moved from the inner Vesterbro district of Copenhagen to the suburb of Albertslund. And although his home has increased in value, it's nothing compared to the millions of kroner his own parents have earned by staying in Vesterbro.

"I actually think it's quite absurd. If they had chosen to settle in Næstved, they would have gotten a long nose instead. Normally you think that Denmark is a fairly equal country, but someone has really gotten a big advantage that I don't think many people think is fair," he says.

He points out that in Copenhagen it can be very difficult to enter the housing market and that this basically creates a bottleneck.

"The big problem is that over the last 30 years, around 55,000 homes have been built in Copenhagen, but many, many more have moved in. There are many who are knocking on the door."

An election campaign filled with imaginative proposals
It seems that politicians are very much aware of the problem of the lack of housing. Perhaps especially because the Danes are going to the polls later in November.

In Kompas, Martin Vinæs Larsen assesses some of the proposals that have been put forward by the mayoral candidates. And he also offers his own take on how we can get out of the housing crisis.

Maybe one day there will be room in Copenhagen for some of the people who, according to Vinæs Larsen, have been pushed out of the city due to the housing market.

"I still visit Vesterbro often. I think it's a great neighborhood, but there aren't many of the type of people who were there when I was growing up. So I may have moved away from Vesterbro and out to the tough west side, but in many ways I feel that Stenbroen has moved with me," he says.

Hear the full conversation about the chaotic and complex housing market in this week's Compass.

Produced by Think Tank INVI - Institute for wicked Problems with support from the Carlsberg Foundation