Housing / Husbanken

Husbanken offers help in your housing situation, e.g. arrangement due to functional variation, if you achieve the criteria. Husbanken can help if you need a new home or to be able to keep your home. They can help you find the right loan or support scheme based on your situation. 

Housing benefit

It is a government support scheme and is calculated every month on the basis of your income and housing costs. You are not entitled to housing benefit if the income base in your household exceeds the upper income limit, regardless of how high the housing costs are. 

You can receive housing benefit if

• you are over 18 and not in the primary service
• you are under 18 and have children
• has less than the upper income limit per month (gross)

Find your income limit
(Under the tab "How much housing benefit can you get?")

In addition, your home must have

• own entrance
• private bathroom and toilet
• kitchen solution
• possibility of rest

If you live in a collective, you can read more about what applies to your situation at the link:
Do you live in a book collective?

Here you can find out how much housing benefit you can get:
Housing allowance calculator

Application and proceedings

If you have applied electronically, your municipality gets access to the application through husbanken.no.
If you apply on paper, a case manager in the municipality registers the application in the system. 

Husbanken collects information about you from public registers before a decision is made, for example for where information is collected: NAV, Folkeregisteret, Skatteetaten and Lånekassen.

If you receive a decision on housing allowance, you do not need to apply again. Husbanken automatically forwards applications that receive a positive decision. If you have a variable income, the housing allowance will also vary.

You have a duty to report any changes that may have an impact on the calculation of housing benefit.
A "post-settlement" is also made every year where the house bank goes through the tax settlement. Husbanken pays out if you have received too little housing benefit and demands repayment if you have received too much housing benefit. 

Apply for housing benefit (Under the "How to search" tab.)

Common reasons for being refused housing benefit

• Your income is too high.
• You have not reported moving to the National Register of Citizens.
• The application lacks documentation or information.
• You or others in the household are not eligible for support.
• Your home does not meet the requirements

Start-up loans and grants from the municipality

Start loans are for families with children and people who are in a particularly challenging situation and lack a suitable home. 

If you can get a bank loan for housing, you will not get a start-up loan, not even if you can save for equity. You can get an exception to the requirement to save if there is a family with children who need stable housing quickly.

By getting a start-up loan, no equity is required, but you must have sufficient income to cover the costs of the start-up loan (the monthly amount) and other necessary expenses.

Start-up loans can e.g. used to:

• buy a home
• refinance loans with a mortgage on your own home
• buy out spouse
• adapt or improve housing

In some cases, the municipality can combine the start-up loan with municipal subsidies for adaptation or establishment. Check with your municipality if they offer grants.

You must meet one or more of these criteria to be able to apply for a start-up loan

• You are in a family with children and need a stable and safe home
• You cannot get a loan from a normal bank and cannot save for equity
• You receive social security/public benefits
• You can lose your home in a forced sale due to housing debt
• You have special social or health challenges
• You have a variety of functions and must adapt your home

Application process

You can apply electronically on Husbanken's website and you will then need a BankID. Many pieces of information are collected automatically. If you have documents on paper, you can take a photo of it and upload it as an attachment to the case.

If you do not have a BankID or are a guardian, you will get help from the municipality on how to proceed.

It is either the municipality or the NAV office that processes your application. How the application is processed may vary from municipality to municipality.

Apply for start-up loans and grants
(Under the tab "How do I apply?")

Common reasons for rejection

• You are not considered financially disadvantaged
• You have too uncertain/low income to service a loan
• There is a high risk that you will not be able to service expenses on the loan throughout the entire loan period
• The municipality has no more start-up loan funds this year. You can then apply again next year

Do you or someone in your family need a start-up loan or grant due to illness and/or functional variation? 

Here are some tips:

• Talk to an occupational therapist/physiotherapist in your municipality. Ask for an inspection of your home to make a plan of what is needed and arranged, or to find arguments why you cannot live in your current residence.
• Talk to the hospital that accompanies you/the child, e.g. the habilitation, doctor responsible for the patient, occupational therapist/physiotherapist, social worker, etc.
• Obtain a lot of documentation for the needs that apply to you/the child. The more documentation the Housing Office in your municipality receives, the easier it will be for them to understand the situation.
• Request a meeting with your case manager at the Housing Office. Preferably at home so they can see the challenges themselves. 
• If you have a responsibility group in the municipality, housing is a good point to include there. The Housing Office can also participate, so solutions can be found together with other people in the responsibility group meeting.
• It is important to submit an application for what you need help with, both to speed up the process and so that communication with the municipality/housing office (which can anyway be taken while an application is being processed) does not take an unnecessarily long time.
• If your application is rejected, you can appeal against the rejection and the case will be taken up in a new assessment by Husbanken's appeal board.

Appeal against decisions

If you are not successful in your application for housing benefit, start-up loan or grant, you can complain to Husbanken. If Husbanken does not approve your appeal, you can ask the Appeal Board to process your appeal.

The Complaints Board processes complaints about decisions made by the Housing Bank. The tribunal is independent, and falls under the Ministry of Local Government and Districts.

More information and where to send the complaint can be found here: The appeal board for Husbanken

Grants for engineering

It can be given to cover the costs of professional assistance (e.g. carpenter, contractor, architect) for the design of both new and existing homes. 

Grants can also be given for the design of welfare technology. Project design and investigation must be carried out by a specialist.

Who can get a grant for investigation and planning?

The subsidy is given to people with functional variations and others who need to adapt their home. You choose the expert yourself, but planning the home and possibly investigation in advance must take place in agreement with the occupational therapist/housing consultant in the municipality where you live.

As of 01.01.2022, each individual municipality makes a decision on the subsidy for planning. The maximum amount is NOK 40,000. Contact the housing office in your municipality for help and advice regarding the application.