Homelessness is on the increase in Iceland’s capital area. Greg Bocquet spoke with a few unfortunate individuals who are living in the shadows of Iceland’s expanding wealth.

Published in the 2008 autumn issue of Iceland Review – IR 46.03. By Greg Bocquet, photo by Páll Stefánsson.

“In this country some people are so rich they can only smile, and some are so poor that they can’t even cry. They don’t even know how many people are living in the streets, and it’s shameful,” says Sigfús, with a mixture of sadness and anger that belies his life as a vagrant much more than his otherwise middle-class appearance.

Sigfús is a 49-year-old resident of Reykjavík’s Gistiskýli, the male-only half of the city’s one homeless shelter. He watches the news every day and votes in every election and is only too aware of the lack of attention paid to a lifestyle that he has seen take the lives of several of his peers.

The notion of Iceland’s purity is a matter of national pride for her citizens, and one of her unique attractions for immigrants. But while regular citizens can be forgiven their ignorance of a social trend taking place in the shadows of the city, officials at all levels of government seem to have decided that Reykjavík’s growing population of homeless and penniless will simply go away on its own.

The one shelter created to address the needs of these unlucky citizens sits on one of the nicest streets in the center of downtown. From outside, the building on Thingholtsstraeti 25 is unremarkable, and with its entrance at the rear, few neighbors are even aware of the building’s use.

An unscientific door-to-door survey of neighbors who happened to be home at the time reveals that half of those do not even know that Reykjavík has a homeless shelter, much less where it is located. To drive the irony home, parked in front during one visit are two Range Rovers, bearing silent witness to the popular fantasy that all of society has benefited from Iceland’s increasing wealth. The 16 men that may sleep at the shelter on any given night, provided they are not too drunk to stand, are for the most part well-dressed, educated, and actively looking for ways to improve their lives. Aside from the few pairs of bloodshot eyes staring blankly out of windows and the permanent coughs laced with alcoholic vapors, I am surprised by what I see. These are not the desperate cases of homelessness in the large urban centers of the rest of the world; these are educated and even well traveled men who, for reasons of bad luck or mental and physical illness, have been pushed to the margins of society. Almost all of the men gathered to watch the seven o’clock news will tell you whether they prefer Clinton or Obama for the Democratic candidacy in the next US presidential election.

Óskar, a 34-year old man from Siglufjördur in northern Iceland, lost his job at an aluminum factory in Akranes nine months ago. Before that he had faced difficulties in holding jobs because of mental health problems. He decided to move to the city and was sharing a small apartment in the Hlídar neighborhood and living off of a modest sum from the government welfare office. When his roommate moved out, he could not afford an apartment on his own and has been living in the shelter since.

“Going from having my own apartment to living here has been very hard. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and I can live on my own. Rent is just too expensive and I have not been able to find another job.”

Óskar is one of the lucky ones. For those who continue to struggle with drugs and alcohol, opportunities to stay in the shelter are more limited. If a guest misses the ten o’clock curfew, he loses his bed to someone on the waiting list. If he is unable to move on his own two feet due to intoxication he will have to stay on the street. The strict rules are partly because of fire regulations; in case of fire the inhabitants have to be able to run out.

You can read the remainder of this article in the 2008 autumn issue of Iceland Review – IR 46.03. New subscribers to the magazine receive the highland guidebook Adventure in Iceland as a gift. Click here to subscribe.

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