The Keilir Scam

This is a very long post...

To start from the beginning:

Once upon a time the was a NATO base built in Iceland. It was huge, compared to the rest of the population, housing up to 7000 people.

This housing had all the furniture and appliances a person could need.

There was also a grocery store, swimming pool, several gyms, restaurant, garages, vehicles, movie theater, really you name it. This place had everything.

Then the Americans left. It was true that a lot of jobs were lost, it took a lot of people to service this town, but they left a town behind.

They left everything! In fact, many apartments had even been recently been redone and had new appliances (like the one I am in :)) .

Everything was left to Iceland.

Now, thanks to the Icelandic way, filled with corruption (everything is about who you know ) friends of people in charge were basically given what could be sold and made a lot of money.

What could not be sold was stuffed into other buildings.

Furniture, gym equipment and appliances are still being sold, by people privately. And we all know how they came about all this stuff.

In a wasteful way, things that could not be sold here have been thrown away by the container full. Televisions, air purifying units and personal items left behind. Some apartments are still being emptied and I have seen bins full of clothing, Christmas lights and chairs. Everything.

What was left was some empty apartments. At least they are trying to make sure that is all that is left.

So these empty houses are rented out by Keilir as student housing for all the schools. Including the Universities in Reykjavik, you can catch a bus to school and back everyday. Keilir is also a school, similar to NAIT.

So Keilir in in charge of renting out these apartments.

Keilir is also a private school.

So this is what does not add up:

Although the housing is dirt cheap, compared to what you would pay in the city, it is still expensive enough that student qualify for full rent subsidy from the government to help pay the rent. In my case, this is 36000 a month. Really, a lot of tax money going to this private, for profit school, very month.

Please remember that these houses were free, there is no mortgage to pay on them. They have everything they need.

Then there is the hidden fees. 8000 a month for utilities and Internet. Fair enough, except if you actually want to use the Internet you have to pay another 1500 a month. There is also a 25000 a month house fee, to pay for someone to clean the hallways in the building.

We worked it out to 30000 a month that is paid for someone to vacuum the hallway every couple weeks. Probably takes 5 min each building and they do a crappy job. Looks like a contract given out to someones brother, who then pays some foreigner 120000 a month while collecting several hundred thousand. I am tempted to refuse to pay. I will clean my own part of the hallway, and Ill do a better job.

So this company, posing as a school, is making a fortune off students and the country by collecting rent and rent subsidy off students.

This is a depression, caused by the super rich, and I am surprised Icelanders will sit by and watch another rich group, rob the country more.

A better idea! At least I think so and if I were in charge this is what I would do:

I understand that if housing is completely free it would be destroyed, people generally do not appreciate what is given to them. So a small amount has to be charged.

I do not think rent subsidy should be collected, so the rent could be the amount that would be paid if you did not get reimbursed with subsidy. Example: My rent is 81000, but I get 36000 back every month. So the rent for this place should be 45000.

This rent money would include all utilities, because everyone knows it is all run by hot water and I can see the steam coming from the ground from here. Very low cost.

The rent money collected would go towards services for the people living here.

As it is we do get free busing to Reykjavík, but more then 4 buses a day would be nice. Maybe every hour. As it is the buses are always full and it does take a lot of traffic off the road.

The playschool and afterschool care would be free.

The swimming pool would be opened.

The rest would probably be eaten up by maintenance of the base-town.

The furniture and appliances would be put back in apartments.

With such great services, more people would move here. As it is only 1500 people live here, when it could be 7000.

More people paying rent means better services.

Maybe we could even open the movie theater.

This was left to Iceland and should be used as a benefit to all of Iceland.

One way this could be done is by making it a supportive place to live, help family's get an education.

This should not just be another opportunity for some super rich to take money no one even has anymore, to become more super rich.