HS Turku 100-year-old wooden house idle breaks when Turku starts doing business with houses – Eila Talonpoika, 93, has to find a new home

Turku TVT Asunnot, a real estate company owned by the city, sells wooden house apartments located on Itäinen Pitkäkatu, where tenants live. Reported earlier Turun Sanomat.

All 14 apartments in the courtyard built in the 1920s are being sold. Ten are inhabited, four are empty.

93 years old Eila Peasant has lived in the same apartment for over 30 years. He opens the door and comes down the stairs.

We walk across the yard, and the Peasant sits down at a table in the yard.

“I wouldn’t leave with an ax either,” the Peasant says, looking around.

TVT told residents about the sale of homes and the termination of leases at a news conference in March. Residents were given a notice on paper.

“The reason for the abandonment is the extensive renovation required by the site, which we estimate will cost about two million. After the renovation, the rental level of the apartments would rise to such a high level that we would no longer be able to offer you affordable rental housing, ”the press release states.

In addition to Talonpoja, HS Turku met with three other tenants.

Residents say they have not been told what the estimate for the two million-worth renovation is based on. All four say their rental homes have not been inspected from the inside to make an assessment. However, the home of one tenant was renovated some years ago. Residents feel the cost of two million has been “pulled from the hat”.

Helsingin Sanomat did not reach the company’s development manager this week to comment on the situation.

The statement mentions, among other things, that these are old protected buildings, the repair of which may come as a surprise.

“Especially in areas where the building is protected, repairs are significantly more expensive than usual,” the release says.

The site is marked on the formula with a building protection mark. The protection is on the facades of the houses.

The bulletin also mentions accessibility.

“Accessibility is a goal in new and refurbishment projects.”

According to the press release, the city plans to build 220 new apartments, for which the proceeds from the sale of this property will also be used.

Birds fluttering and the lawn has already begun to green. There are a couple of crowned pigeons in the yard. One of the neighbors reportedly likes to give them food.

What has it been like to live here?

“Lovely, really nice. Nice environment and nice people, ”says Peasant.

He says he fell in love with the place as soon as he moved into an apartment in the 1980s. A large maple tree grows in front of the peasant’s home.

“The maple was quite small when I moved here. It has grown with me. ”

He has applied for an ICT apartment on the other side of the Aura River, but could move somewhere even further. Then giving up a familiar home might not feel so bad. Preferably, of course, to a warm country, even Turkey or Spain.

Residents describe the yard as communal, they are a bit like a family.

“You never have to worry about not getting help and support,” says Peasant.

Neighbors tend to bring him books to read and crossword puzzles to solve. During the summer, residents sit together in a courtyard sheltered by houses. There have also been events there, such as poetry readings and musical performances.

In the courtyard take care of others.

Marja Mäenpää, who has lived in the place for 20 years, always notifies the Peasant when he is away from home. In this way, the Peasant is not surprised and worried when the light in the Mäenpää window does not light up in the evening as usual.

“Apartments are sold at the expense of social housing”, Deputy City Councilor of the City of Turku living in the yard Riikka Oksanen (left) says.

“Eila [Talonpoika] told me earlier whether Riikka could be moved to the same floor, or even to the same place. ”

It would be nice for residents to stay together, but they will probably end up living in different places. All interviewees are applying to another ICT apartment. In the future, they may live in an apartment building.

“I don’t dare leave the wooden house anymore,” the peasant’s wall neighbor Johanna Nieminen says.

ICT has sold wooden houses in the past.

The situation is causing grief among the residents and they would not want to leave their homes. According to Marja Mäenpää, this is the best home she has ever had.

“I’d rather live here for the rest of my life.”

Residents think that the apartments are in good condition, but the peasant’s kitchen cabinet, for example, should be replaced. Mäenpää says that the houses have lived a lot and that there are cracks in their walls.

The peasant says that it has always been equally nice with the neighbors, even though the outfit has changed. In the past, there were also children living in the apartments, now mostly older people.

We ask finally, can we take a peek into the Peasant’s home.

“The doors are open there,” the Peasant says.

The apartment has a kitchen and a pantry.

The peasant and his neighbors sit on the edge of the bed. The room has a tiled stove, small animal statues and a beautiful bouquet of flowers that the Peasant has received from his grandchild.

As a child, the peasant has lived nearby, a couple of blocks away. He says when he moved here he returned to his roots.

The floor creaks a little as we move into the kitchen.

There you can see boxes of bananas that have already been packed.