ONCE UPON A TIME

... the story behind Skanderborg Andelsboligforening

The history of the Danish cooperative housing associations dates back to the time of King Christian IV. In 1631, King Christian presented his advisory council Rigsrådet with a plan for the construction of housing for his sailors and the permanent staff of the Royal Dockyard “Holmen”.

This was the first step toward the construction of the quarter of the lovely, old, yellow terraced houses now known as Nyboder in Copenhagen.

The construction of council housing did not start in earnest until after the cholera epidemic in Denmark in 1853 which claimed just under 7,000 lives. The epidemic led to stronger focus on the importance of proper and healthy housing, and the first housing associations saw the light of day.

Skanderborg Andelsboligforening was founded in February 1942. Alfred Petersen, a bricklayer, was elected chairman of the association and remained its driving force for many years.

The initiative was taken by the confederation of unions in Skanderborg, due to a considerable shortage of housing in the town as well a high level of unemployment among bricklayers. The housing association was thus able to solve two problems at once.

In 1943, the first twelve flats were ready for occupation at P. B. Lundsvej. For the first many years, only impoverished families were eligible tenants of these cheap flats. However, as more and more people moved into towns, the situation changed, and in the 1960s normal well-off families started occupying the flats.

Since its foundation in 1942, not a decade has gone by without the housing association building and expanding and today the association manages 1,336 tenancies divided between 43 departments within the Municipality of Skanderborg. Each year, the properties are checked to establish any defects, which means that quality levels are above the national average.

“Today, it is acceptable to move into a flat which has been used before. That was not the case before 1982. Back then, the flats had to appear as new,” explains H. Hjuler Madsen, Manager of Skanderborg Andelsboligforening.

“In 1999, tenants were also granted more rights. Today, they can virtually do what they want to their homes. This is a trend which I welcome as it makes the various properties more individualised. It does, of course, result in more work, but it also makes everybody happier.”

Skanderborg Andelsboligforening is an independent housing association and one of approx. 700 housing associations in Denmark. However, 80 per cent of all 500,000 tenancies are managed by 42 very large housing associations which have grown in size following a series of mergers.

Skanderborg Andelsboligforening has no plans to give up its independence and will continue to concentrate on providing pleasant and satisfactory tenancies within the Municipality of Skanderborg.