Fattighuset, Norwegian for "the house of the poor," was established in 1994 in eastern Oslo. Created to help those most in need, it was named as such "not to stigmatize people," explained its spokesperson Christine Tetlie, but to remind Norwegians that "poverty does exist" in this Nordic country of 5.6 million, which has become one of the richest in the world thanks to oil and gas exploitation.

Thirty years later, Siv Holmebukt, 56 years old, visits once a week. Just days before the parliamentary elections, scheduled for Monday, September 8, she expressed frustration with political leaders who "talk a lot but don't do much." With prices "having gone up so much," her disability pension of 21,000 kroner (€1,800) is no longer enough to cover her expenses. "I am poor," she said, adding that she was relieved her two children, aged 21 and 26, no longer lived with her because "it's not easy to be poor in a country like Norway," she said.

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