Class division not addressed in the majority agreement

Statement from the Socialist City Council Group (borgarstjórnarflokki Sósíalista) regarding the majority agreement:

The welfare of residents is one of the main roles of municipalities. Class division is growing in our society where poverty is a stark reality. It has become extremely difficult for people to get a roof over their heads where individualism prevails and the motto is that everyone is the architect of their own fortune. The societal factors that maintain inequality are overlooked.

The housing crisis that prevails here will not be solved by allowing property owners and capital owners to continue to sweep up housing and building plots. Nor will the housing crisis be solved by granting private companies or contractors the power to develop. The welfare of city residents will not be ensured with market solutions, where capital has the final say at the expense of the public.

In the wake of the elections, the Socialists spoke for a proposal for a new majority that would be guided by social welfare principles, but that proposal was rejected. There was no will to work to the left, and the result was a majority that identifies with the center, a majority that has agreed on a nearly unchanged situation.

The majority agreement is a continuation of what has not worked so far. It does not include any clear policy changes; rather, tenants, poor people, and low-wage earners in Reykjavík are made to continue living in an extreme situation after many years of neglect. Therefore, it is extreme to maintain the status quo. A status quo that serves the best-off and hits the worst-off hardest.

The extremes are clearly seen in the indifference in housing and welfare matters, where the municipality's duties are not fulfilled as they should be. The statutory task of local authorities is to be responsible for and take the initiative to solve the housing needs of residents. Therefore, it is shameful that 947 people are on a waiting list for housing with Reykjavík City, where people often wait for a long time. The basic needs of residents are not considered, but at the same time, the majority announces tax cuts on commercial properties in line with the same outdated neoliberalism that has been in effect. The breadcrumbs are once again to rain down, over the poor and over tenants, who have to live with ever-increasing extremes in the rental market; rent increases and insecurity.

Societies are not about primarily serving the needs of the wealthiest. It does not mean believing that money will automatically trickle down to the poor. The Socialists are aware of the class division in society and the power imbalance that exists due to inequality in the social structure; we will use that knowledge to fight for a more equal and better society.

-The Socialist City Council Group

Sanna Magdalena Mörtudóttir

Trausti Breiðfjörð Magnússon

Andrea Helgadóttir

Ásta Þórdís Skjalddal