City spending 850 million kroner on social initiatives

Mayor says that healthy city finances produced funding windfall, but Konservative argues the surplus demonstrates that taxes are still too high in the city

The City Council agreed on Friday to spend an additional 850 million kroner on social initiatives across Copenhagen.

The money will go toward building 225 new youth homes and 165 affordable homes for students and ordinary Copenhageners. The extra funds will also fund employment initiatives, improve the conditions for the socially vulnerable, increase security in Nørrebro, and allow for a lowering of taxes on businesses.

Parents will benefit as 123 million kroner has been set aside to ensure that children can find a daycare spot at a location within four kilometres of their home, and three city schools will be renovated.

Mayor Frank Jensen (Socialdemokraterne) said that the additional funding was made available because of the city’s healthy finances.

“Our economy is strong, which is why we can strengthen the community in Copenhagen by both improving the conditions for ordinary Copenhageners and for some of the most vulnerable children and adults,” Jensen said in a press release. “We are investing in public housing to make sure that it’s not only the elite who can afford to live in the city. We are making sure that children can be looked after within four kilometres of their home and we are renovating schools from top to bottom."

Some 381 million kroner of the additional funds were left over from 2012’s budget and the remainder was found mostly through higher than expected returns on public investment.

According to the City Council, the additional funding brings the city’s planned investment to almost 13 billion between 2013-2017 – a historically high number which is expected to create an additional 15,000 jobs.

Thirty million has been set aside specifically for Nørrebro, a multicultural inner city district and a hot-spot in the ongoing gang disturbances.

According to the deputy mayor for health and care, Nina Thomsen (Socialistisk Folkeparti), the investment will be directed at finding ways to displace the gangs in the troubled, but trendy, district.

“It will, for example, improve the conditions for creative businesses and culture and create a strong and lively area that will attract a broad range of the city’s residents,” Thomsen said in the press release. “We have also fought to have several hundred cheap homes for students. Both will contribute to creating a dynamic city with space for many types of people and incomes.”

The Vesterbro district will also get a lift, as the city plans to improve infrastructure for buses and bicyclists down the busy street Istedgade.

Other initiatives including increasing the funding for helping abused and handicapped children as well as programmes designed to help the long-term unemployed find their way back to work.

The deal passed on Friday with support of the three government coalition parties, Enhedslisten, and Liberal Alliance.

Opposition parties Venstre and Konservative did not support the deal. According to Rasmus Jarlov, leader of the Konservative in the City Council, the city ought to be reducing taxes instead of spending surplus funds.

“Frank Jensen defends [the plan] by saying that the City Council has the ninth-lowest income tax in the country,” Jarlov wrote on Facebook. “But [Copenhagen] also has some of the country’s highest property and business taxes and a vast income from parking. The truth is that the City Council has no respect for taxpayers' funds and are out spending money at a time when other parts of society are having to save.”

TOP STORIES

  • Bestselling author of ‘The Year of Living Danishly’ Helen Russell on why she moved back to the UK after 12 years

    Bestselling author of ‘The Year of Living Danishly’ Helen Russell on why she moved back to the UK after 12 years

    After more than a decade living in Denmark, Russell shares why she made the move, how she’s coping, what she already misses, and the exciting new projects she’s working on. “It’s been a very tough decision. I love Denmark, and it will always hold a special place in my heart,” she says.

  • Denmark launches first AI supercomputer

    Denmark launches first AI supercomputer

    The new Gefion AI supercomputer is one of the world’s fastest and will accelerate research and provide new opportunities in Danish academia and industry.

  • Navigating big love, big moves and big feelings

    Navigating big love, big moves and big feelings

    Experts believe it takes seven years to move into a new culture, according to leading Danish psychologist Jette Simon and therapist Vibeke Hartkorn. For expat couples, the challenges of starting a new life together in Denmark can put pressure on relationships, but emotions-focused therapy can help.

  • More and more Danes are working after retirement age

    More and more Danes are working after retirement age

    Politicians debate a lot these days about when you can retire. The reality shows that an increasing number of Danes like to work, even if they can withdraw from the labor market. Financial incentives help.

  • Environmental activist fears death in prison if extradited to Japan

    Environmental activist fears death in prison if extradited to Japan

    Canadian-born environmental activist Paul Watson has been in prison in Greenland for almost 100 days awaiting an extradition decision for a 14-year-old offence against a Japanese whaling vessel that he calls a “minor misdemeanor”. The 73-year-old had previously passed through Ireland, Switzerland, Monaco, France and the USA without trouble, before Greenlandic police arrested him in July.

  • Denmark too slow to ease recruitment rules for non-EU service workers, say industry associations

    Denmark too slow to ease recruitment rules for non-EU service workers, say industry associations

    When the Danish government in January presented the first of its schemes to make it easier to recruit foreign labour from outside the EU, it was hailed by the healthcare and service sectors as a timely and important policy shift. But while healthcare changes have been forthcoming, the service sector is still struggling, say the directors of the industry association Dansk Industri and one of the country’s largest private employers ISS.

Connect club

Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.

Sign up here

Career

  • Come and join us at Citizens Days!

    Come and join us at Citizens Days!

    On Friday 27 and Saturday 28 of September, The Copenhagen Post will be at International Citizen Days in Øksnehallen on Vesterbro, Copenhagen. Admission is free and thousands of internationals are expected to attend

  • Diversifying the Nordics: How a Nigerian economist became a beacon for inclusivity in Scandinavia

    Diversifying the Nordics: How a Nigerian economist became a beacon for inclusivity in Scandinavia

    Chisom Udeze, the founder of Diversify – a global organization that works at the intersection of inclusion, democracy, freedom, climate sustainability, justice, and belonging – shares how struggling to find a community in Norway motivated her to build a Nordic-wide professional network. We also hear from Dr. Poornima Luthra, Associate Professor at CBS, about how to address bias in the workplace.

  • Lolland Municipality launches support package for accompanying spouses

    Lolland Municipality launches support package for accompanying spouses

    Lolland Municipality, home to Denmark’s largest infrastructure project – the Fehmarnbelt tunnel connection to Germany – has launched a new jobseeker support package for the accompanying partners of international employees in the area. The job-to-partner package offers free tailored sessions on finding a job and starting a personal business.

Want to advertise your job with CPH Post?

Contact us

Jobs