About
Sørvoll holds a PhD in history from the University in Oslo. His research interests include housing markets and housing policy, social policy and the welfare state in a comparative and historical perspective. Sørvoll has published articles in journals such as Housing, Theory and Society and Housing Studies, and heads HOUSINGWEL, the centre for housing and welfare research, a research centre funded by the Ministry of Local government and Regional Development.
Sørvoll headed the government policy commission on the Norwegian Rental Act (2023-2024). The commission submitted the report NOU 2024:19 Ny boligleielov (A new law regulating rental housing) on the 19th of October 2024.
Field of study
Welfare state Housing Social housing
Research groups
Research projects
Ongoing research projects
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Enabling Ageing in Place (AgePlace)
In this project the researchers aim to generate new knowledge on the precondition for safe ageing in place.
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HOUSINGWEL – Centre for Housing and Welfare Research
HOUSINGWEL aims to be a hub for research on housing and welfare in Norway.
Completed research projects
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Activity Friend for Persons with Dementia
The project addresses what role the "activity friend" volunteers play in municipal health care and for people with dementia in Norway.
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Area Review of Housing Solutions and Health and Care Services for the Elderly
How can the state and municipality more effectively facilitate elderly people to age in place?
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Disadvantaged in the Housing Market: Effects of Public Interventions (DISADVANTEGED)
This project aims to evaluate all major social housing policy instruments in Norway, aimed at helping disadvantaged individuals to better and more stable housing.
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Housing Market and Housing Policy in Norway – an International Comparison
In this project the researchers compare central features of the Norwegian housing market and housing policy with those of Sweden, Denmark, Austria, UK, the Netherlands and Germany.
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Housing Market Mobility in Old Age: Attitudes, Drivers and Barriers
The project adresses how elderly people adapt their housing consumption in light of the physical and mental changes associated with ageing.
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Social Rented Housing in Oslo. Dilemmas in a Market-oriented and Means-tested Housing Sector
Social rented housing is one of the most important policy instruments in the municipality of Oslo’s social housing policy.
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The Housing Bank – 75th anniversary
The project is an historical analysis of Norwegian housing policy and the Norwegian state’s Housing Bank in recent decades (1996-2020). An illustrated academic book in Norwegian based on a comprehensive selection of oral and written sources is the end goal of the project.
Publications and research
Scientific publications
Sørvoll, Jardar ; Brattbakk, Ingar ; Flåto, Maja (2025). Velferdsstatens boligtilbud: Kommunale utleieboliger i Norge. ISBN: 9788202840747. 367 p. Cappelen Damm Akademisk.
Sørvoll, Jardar
;
Astrup, Kim Christian
(2025).
Norway: Spiraling Housing Costs in a Hydro-Powered Country of Mortgaged Homeowners.
Egner, Björn; Krapp, Max-Christopher (Ed.).
Housing in Crisis. Policies and Challenges in Europe. p. 181-199.
Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-87267-9_11
Sørvoll, Jardar
;
Osnes, Siri Myrold
;
Brattbakk, Ingar
(2024).
Needs-Tested and Market-Based Social Rented Housing: The Extreme Case of Norway?.
Tidsskrift for boligforskning.
Vol. 7.
https://doi.org/10.18261/tfb.7.1.7
Brattbakk, Ingar
;
Sørvoll, Jardar
(2024).
They must live somewhere! The geographical dimension of residualized social rented housing in urban Norway.
Journal of Housing and the Built Environment.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-024-10121-w
Sørvoll, Jardar
; Listerborn, Carina; Sandberg, Matilda Annemark
(2024).
Housing and Welfare in Sweden, Norway and the wider Nordic region.
Grander, Martin; Stephens, Mark (Ed.).
The Routledge Handbook of Housing and Welfare. p. 88-106.
Routledge.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.120
Sørvoll, Jardar
(2023).
Tenure Security and Positive Freedom in Social Housing. Tenants’ Subjective Experiences in the Ambiguous Case of Oslo.
Housing, Theory and Society.
Vol. 40.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2023.2241462
Sørvoll, Jardar
(2023).
The great social housing trade-off. ‘Insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ in urban social rental housing in Norway.
Housing Studies.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2023.2242803
Sørvoll, Jardar (2022). Centre for housing and welfare research BOVEL (HOUSINGWEL) celebrates its first birthday. ENHR Newsletter.
Gautun, Heidi
;
Sørvoll, Jardar
(2021).
Hjemmetjenester eller institusjonsomsorg? Et forvaltningskommunalt dilemma i norsk eldreomsorg.
Tidsskrift for velferdsforskning.
Vol. 24.
https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.2464-3076-2021-03-04
Solstad, Asgeir; Astrup, Kim ; Bliksvær, Trond; Hansen, Inger Lise Skog; Iversen, Marit; Kjellevold, Alice; Nordvik, Viggo; Sørvoll, Jardar (2021). Boligsosialt arbeid. ISBN: 9788215041490. 232 p. Universitetsforlaget.