Viking Magazine - August 2012 - 25

who go solo. Norway has
not one but two national
associations for people who
live alone, and both were
started to deal with thorny
issues of housing.
Ensliges Landsforbund,
the National Association of
Single People, formed in 1957
as a reaction to Norway's
post-World War II housing
shortage. Back then, a
person who wanted to live
alone was barred by law from
tions for single people living
alone, " says Live Lepperød,
cofounder and managing
director of Tønsberg-based
SingelSammen, which so far
has about 1,000 members.
" What we want to achieve
is to get a tax reduction for
people living alone. "
" Here in Norway,
the housing is
extremely expensive
and especially in
Oslo, the living costs
are high, " she adds.
" We estimate that it
costs at least 50,000
to 70,000 crowns
more a year to live
alone. " That's anytity.
Ensliges Landsforbund
was the product of another
era and even its name was
problematic. Enslig means
" single, " but it can also mean
" solitary " or " isolated, " hinting
at a pitiable condition.
" It's not a good name for
young people to associate
applying for a
home loan and
couldn't seek
an apartment
through the City
of Oslo's rental
There are
bureau. Single people were expected
to live in single rooms,
in arrangements they made
with their families or their employers.
They banded together
and lobbied for change.
Members of SingelSammen,
literally " single together, "
which formed in 2009, face
no prohibition on home ownership.
Instead, the issue for
Norway's solo dwellers today
is a housing market and an
economy that make it difficult
to live on one income.
" We work economically
for bettering the condiwhere
from $8,200 to
$11,475 above the per
person cost to live as
part of a couple.
Why not work on
these problems by joining
Ensliges Landsforbund?
Lepperød's answer reflects
the changes in attitude that
" Going Solo " is about. When
early efforts to collaborate
with Ensliges Landsforbund
didn't pan out, Lepperød
and SingelSammen's other
cofounders decided it might
be best after all to form their
own group with its own iden850,000
people
living alone in
Norway, nearly
a fifth of the
population.
with, " Lepperød says. " We
wanted to establish an organization
that was in a way
fresher and more for youngminded
people. "
It's a new era, but even
in a country that has one of
the world's highest ratios of
people living alone, Lepperød
says singles still feel sometimes
" marginalized " -set aside socially
by nonsingles, expected
to work more hours than their
married counterparts, and
despite being satisfied overall
with their independent lives,
wanting more companionship
on occasion. So SingelSammen
works on more than
economic and tax issues. The
group organizes outings-
outdoor treks, group travel
and nights out.
" We want to be a meeting
place for people, " Lepperød
says, " just to have fun and
not necessarily for dating. "
Yasmin Amdahl, a SingelSammen
member since
last year, says, " If I had seen
the word 'dating,' I don't
think I would have joined. I
just wanted to get to know
people, spend time hiking in
the woods, and things like
that. " Amdahl, who's been
on her own for 18 years, says
she's more open to the idea
of a serious relationship than
she used to be, but she's happy
being single.
" I think myself and a lot
of other singles, we miss that
'significant other' once in a
while, " Amdahl adds. " But at
the same time, for me this has
grown into a lifestyle. "
Lepperød says it's a lifestyle
that most people will share in
at some point-or at several
points-in their lives, so it's
" very strange " that politicians
and policy makers still
focus so much on traditional
family households. " There are
850,000 people living alone
in Norway, " she says, nearly
a fifth of the population. " We
have to address the way society
is to make it better for the
people living in it. "
hdchd[cdglVn#Xdb K>@>C< 6J


Viking Magazine - August 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Viking Magazine - August 2012

Contents
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - Cover1
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - Cover2
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - Contents
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - 4
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - 5
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - 6
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - 7
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - 8
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - 9
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - 10
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - 11
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - 12
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - 13
Viking Magazine - August 2012 - 14
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