Municipal rental guarantees for a socially sustainable housing supply

Markus Kallifatides (S)

Madam Speaker! In May 2020, the S-led government commissioned the special investigator Karolina Skog to, among other things, analyze the system of municipal rental guarantees and submit necessary legislative proposals. The purpose was to create conditions for a socially sustainable housing supply that facilitates households with economic difficulties in obtaining housing.

In March 2022, the investigation submitted the report Lower the threshold to a good home, which among other things contained proposals for mandatory municipal rent guarantees as a tool for better housing supply in the country.

First in the budget bill for 2026, the Tidö Government announced its intention to make it mandatory for municipalities to provide rental guarantees under certain conditions. The bill, Madam Speaker, now arrives three and a half years after the investigation proposal.

We Social Democrats share the Joint Investigation's – and now the Government's – assessment that municipal rent guarantees are currently underutilized and have not had the impact in practice that the legislator originally intended.

We also share the assessment that an obligation to provide rental guarantees is in line with the activities and tasks that municipalities already have today, with responsibility for, for example, means-testing according to the Social Services Act as well as frequent contact with households living under insecure housing conditions.

We finally share the government's view that regulations that can be issued with the support of the now proposed authorization can remove difficulties for vulnerable households to be approved as tenants and move forward on the housing market and thus can contribute to reducing exclusion on the housing market and thereby facilitate integration into society.

We therefore stand behind the government's bill in this report and deeply regret that it took unacceptably long. We intend to carefully consider the future exact design of a system with mandatory municipal rental guarantees as one of many necessary tools in a functioning social housing policy.

Madam Speaker! We Social Democrats can hardly see that the Tidö Government wants to improve the housing supply in this country at all. They want to sentence 13-year-olds to prison, let rehearsal spaces and sheltered housing close down, lower taxes for high-income earners, change climate goals instead of reaching them, and perhaps build new nuclear reactors with all of our money but not get cheap electricity here and now. Housing may well be added, but only through the market's provision and almost never where I just live. It is almost always full in the right's cold, desolate society, which Olof Palme warned us about.

We Social Democrats know that that order is bad for society. The state's hand must be present to achieve real measures for a better housing supply.

Let me just take one example: In my county, Stockholm County, there are, according to SCB, approximately 280,000 people who are overcrowded and cannot find an adequate home. This is data that I checked the other day. Unless older villa owners with grown-up children in a number of the county's municipalities simply swap places with overcrowded families with children, there is a very great need to build and create more homes of the right size to meet the needs. New housing needs to be built, and it needs to be converted on a large scale.

With, among other things, the starting point, Madam Speaker – that we have great challenges and a shortage of adequate housing – we Social Democrats have proposed a long series of measures based on already completed government inquiries. We have proposed a national action plan for the housing supply. We have proposed that such a plan shall be translated into municipal action plans. We have proposed a parliamentary committee for the housing supply. We have proposed that public service housing shall not be subject to the cost-driving law on public procurement as long as it is operated on commercial principles.

We welcome the promotion of construction companies and support for organizations that promote the cause-driven housing construction that actually exists all around our country. We have also proposed construction incentives for student housing and housing in locations in labor market regions with expansion, as well as favorable government construction credits.

We Social Democrats, Madam Speaker, say it as it is: There is a crisis in the housing supply, and we are prepared to do what is required. Many of the proposals I just listed were found in the housing social investigation that the previous S-led government commissioned. The Tidö government has rejected almost everything, Madam Speaker.

I want to remind that the Tidö Government began the mandate period by shutting down two other very important investigations – one on measures against so-called social dumping, where well-off municipalities simply get rid of municipal residents, and another on an investigation into new tools within urban planning to counter housing segregation.

Madam Speaker! During the last decades, something fundamental has changed in our everyday economy. Housing has, to an ever greater extent, shifted from being a home to becoming an economic position. Today, it affects life chances, social mobility, and the opportunity to create security for ourselves and our children.

For us Social Democrats, this is a crucial political issue. We are a freedom movement, and we know that if freedom is to apply to everyone, equality is its prerequisite. This applies not least to access to a secure and functional home.

One thing, Madam Speaker, this government has however done correctly in this area. Through a legislative amendment, it has been clarified that a municipal housing agency may reserve apartments for applicants in the queue or use a priority system without it affecting the possibility of collecting a queue fee. We Social Democrats have welcomed the clarification but also desired clearer delimitations of how these tools may be used in municipal housing agencies.

Together with the municipal rental guarantees that the report deals with, which can now be made mandatory under certain conditions, reservations can at least become part of a better functioning housing supply. But for this to happen in practice, I believe it requires Social Democratic-led majorities here in Sweden's Riksdag and around the country's municipalities.

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Alireza Akhondi (C)

Madam Speaker! On a day like this, I am very glad that my colleague Markus Kallifatides gave a long speech, so that I managed to get to the chamber.

Madam Speaker! This is a report that on the surface sounds warm, thoughtful, and socially sustainable. Who doesn't want to help people to a home? Who doesn't want families with children to be spared insecurity? But the longer one reads the bill, the clearer it becomes that the government is once again trying to treat the symptoms of Sweden's housing crisis instead of the causes.

The truth is uncomfortable for this government: People are left without housing not because the municipalities lack more guarantees, but because Sweden has, for a long time, built too little, regulated too much, taxed the move chains into pieces, and created a housing market where completely ordinary people can no longer get in.

What is the government's answer then? Well, even more responsibility is placed on the municipalities and even more obligations. There are even more expectations that the municipalities should solve the state's failures.

Madam Speaker! There is something almost sad about Swedish politics nowadays. When the system does not work, one does not rebuild the system – one builds a training wheel for the training wheel. Municipal rental guarantees shall therefore become yet another tool to try to make a dysfunctional housing market temporarily appear functional. But a guarantee does not create a home. A guarantee does not build new rental apartments. A guarantee does not conjure away the queues. A guarantee does not change the fact that people are denied housing because the rents are too high and the supply is too small.

At the same time, young adults remain at home with their parents well into their adulthood. Families with children move between temporary contracts. Ordinary wage earners with completely normal incomes are denied first-hand contracts. This is not a system worthy of one of the world's richest countries.

Madam Speaker! Almost the most provoking thing is actually the language. "Socially sustainable housing supply" sounds very elegant, doesn't it? It sounds so well-formulated and well-thought-out. But behind the words are people who cannot plan their lives. They are people who do not know where their children will live next school term. They are people who work and pay tax but still do not get access to a home. In that case, it helps very little that the government produces yet another proposition with new paragraphs and confidentiality provisions.

Madam Speaker! Sweden needs a housing policy that actually dares to tackle the fundamental problems. It is about more housing, faster processes, functioning moving chains, and more reasonable conditions for construction and investments – not about yet another layer of municipal special solutions on top of a system that is already creaking.

Finally, someone must say the obvious: If more and more people need municipal guarantees to obtain a standard rental contract, it is not the people who are the problem. It is the system that has failed.

Madam Speaker! I am thinking out loud a bit. The engagement in this debate should be a bit greater, especially since I know that there are colleagues who protect, for example, children who are evicted. Unfortunately, the proposals to address that type of problem are conspicuous by their absence.

We have chosen to have a reservation. It concerns the follow-up and evaluation of this proposal. I choose to move for its approval today.

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Roger Hedlund (SD)

Madam Speaker! This is yet another debate on the housing policy area this spring. We are creating a breadth in the debate through all the bills that are being submitted as we now approach the summer of 2026.

The bill being debated now concerns municipal rental guarantees, which shall enable more people to gain access to a home even though the right conditions do not always exist for property owners to feel secure in renting out a home.

Now, the municipalities can on a voluntary basis provide a rental guarantee for those who want a rental apartment but who may not have the right conditions. With this bill, it will become an obligation for the municipalities to do this.

I think it is a good reform. It is a step in the right direction. We know that we have historically worked with this issue. We have taken steps forward through the rental guarantees. And today we are delivering the next phase, where it thus transitions to being an obligation for the municipalities to be able to offer rental guarantees. I think it is a good step along the way.

As we know, there has been a similar model at a voluntary level since before. There have also been previous grants to the municipalities to compensate for the costs that may arise in the long run with rental guarantees. That grant is now being removed but is replaced by a general state grant to the municipalities to compensate for the rental guarantees that are now being introduced. It is moving from being voluntary to becoming an obligation for the municipalities to offer this.

The amount is increased compared to before. It has been an amount of 5,000 kronor per rental guarantee. Now it will be an average of 15,000 kronor. This will therefore result in an increased state grant to the municipalities of 34.5 million kronor.

The proposal means that many of the people who can actually pay rent today are given an opportunity to obtain a rental apartment through this guarantee. Today, there are people who have project employment, remarks, or lower incomes that make property owners feel uneasy about renting to them.

There is full understanding that there is such concern among property owners because, in the end, they are the ones who can be affected when tenants are unable to pay their rent. But with this proposal, we make it easier for property owners to actually be able to offer housing to more groups. That is also the entire purpose of this reform.

The investigation was commissioned in 2020, which is quite a long time ago. One might think that even before 2020, the need to actually transition from a voluntary system to a mandatory one should have been understood. It obviously took a long time, however, to reach the point where this investigation would be commissioned and provide proposals. It was commissioned in 2020.

Today we stand here with a bill. I am pleased that we have been able to deliver such a bill and that it is the Tidö government's parties that stand behind this proposal.

With that, Madam Speaker, I support the committee's proposal in the report.

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Amanda Palmstierna (MP)

Madam Speaker and members! Timo, Nina and Henrik are the names of three people who have no home. They are three people who have shared their story of what it is like to be homeless. They have had the courage to share.

There are different stories for every homeless person. But very common stories are about the finances not adding up, about a rent that is higher than the income, about SMS loans, about a debt spiral, and perhaps also about payment defaults that prevent one from getting a home even if one were to get their finances in order.

It is inhumane not to have a home. It is a political failure that it is still like this in the country Sweden – one of the world's richest countries.

Household finances are strained. The most common reason people are evicted from their homes is that they cannot afford to pay their rent.

In this situation, several of the Tidöregering's parties choose to put forward proposals regarding market rents in the election campaign debate. We have seen a report today from Hyresgästföreningen on how much more expensive it would become in various cities around the country with market rents – 40 percent in Stockholm, 36 percent in Göteborg, and 27 percent in Uppsala.

This does not add up. To push such proposals is to ask for homelessness. Politics is a whole. It is connected. You simply cannot, on one hand, dabble with measures to reduce homelessness while on another hand pushing through reforms for poverty and shock-increased rents. It doesn't work.

Karolina Skog was an Environment Party minister. She investigated social housing provision and presented a number of proposals. What we are debating today is one of the proposals in the investigation on how one can lower the thresholds to the housing market. I am really very happy that this proposal is finally happening. I am very happy that the Tidö government is standing behind it. But it has taken a long time. It took three and a half years from the time the proposal was conceived until it was presented on the floor of the Riksdag. It is far too late.

Municipal rental guarantees are a tool where the municipality acts as a guarantor for a tenant. The tenant still pays their rent. But this becomes a security, so that the landlord gets the rent paid if something were to go wrong.

Madam Speaker! There is a question that is closely linked to this question, and that is the question of what requirements a landlord places on its tenants. The proposal on municipal rental guarantees is largely about assessed ability to pay. The question of the requirements that landlords place also concerns largely assessed ability to pay. Therefore, we think it would have been much better to treat both of these proposals collectively. If one had been serious about combating homelessness and lowering the thresholds to the housing market, one would also have submitted that proposal.

Landlords today have the right to set different types of requirements on their tenants. It looks very different; the requirements vary a lot. There are many very good landlords, but there are also those who set unreasonably high requirements, for example that there must be a very high deposit or security to rent an apartment or that one must have an annual income that is three or four times higher than the rent.

I was in there on payment defaults earlier. If one has a payment default but has gotten their finances in order, it can still be the case that one is completely shut out. Often, this leads to that one is instead referred to an even higher housing cost on the secondary or tertiary market. Perhaps one does not find a home at all.

We in Miljöpartiet truly believe that a regulation of what requirements a landlord may impose is needed so that it becomes legally secure and uniform across the country. This can, of course, be developed in dialogue with the various actors.

We think that the proposal from the Karolina Skog investigation should be taken further, and we also think it is very important that all money should be counted, for example housing allowance and social assistance. It is discriminatory that some money should be counted and other money not, even if the ability to pay actually exists.

Madam Speaker! I support the proposal on mandatory municipal rental guarantees. I also move for the reservation to be approved.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

David Josefsson (M)

Madam Speaker! Housing shortages, low mobility, and construction that does not correspond to what people demand are recurring problems when discussing the Swedish housing market. A structural homelessness that has taken hold in groups that have difficulty establishing themselves is another recurring description.

In the 2022 election, we received the voters' trust to get Sweden in order. Therefore, the Moderate-led government is working step by step to also get the housing market functioning again. We are driving reforms to reduce red tape, and we are shortening lead times and increasing the buildable land. We are increasing safety in our residential areas by making it easier to evict criminals and strengthening the work with local cooperation. We have also given the police new tools such as stay-away orders and security zones.

We strengthen the position of the rental housing and make the regulatory framework more functional by restoring the presumption rental system and introducing a new private rental law. And perhaps most importantly: When both structural and social homelessness increases, we implement powerful reforms to strengthen and support the households that are furthest from the housing market.

Madam Speaker! The focus for this government has been to protect and strengthen household economies in a restless world. We have lowered taxes primarily for those who earn the least. The reductions in food VAT and fuel taxes play the biggest role for those with the smallest margins.

But the government has also given the municipalities new tools to work with social housing policy and work against evictions. We have strengthened the municipalities' responsibility for the housing supply and, with a completely new Social Services Act, also given the municipalities new tools to work preventatively.

Today, we will also make decisions in this chamber regarding the introduction of mandatory municipal rental guarantees for households that have otherwise had difficulty securing a rental apartment. A municipal rental guarantee is, simplified, a guarantee of payment that a municipality makes so that a household can sign a rental contract for a home.

Madam Speaker! The possibility of municipal rental guarantees already exists, but as is noted in the report, it is something that has not been utilized to any significant extent by Sweden's municipalities. One reason may be that it has been voluntary. Therefore, we believe, under certain conditions, the municipalities should be obliged to provide guarantees.

Madam Speaker! There is a growing group of people in our country who have their own livelihood but who nevertheless find it difficult to enter the housing market, for example because they do not receive their livelihood from a permanent employment but through hourly jobs or other time-limited jobs.

These people end up in a Catch-22 today. Because they have an income, they are not in need of social assistance or other interventions from the social services. At the same time, landlords are unsure whether these people have the possibility to steadily pay their rent and are therefore hesitant to rent out. Instead, they are referred to uncertain sublease contracts or to being lodgers.

Madam Speaker! There are actors in civil society and in the non-profit sector, for example Stockholm Stadsmission's bobyrå, who on their own initiative go between and towards the landlord and take over the responsibility that the rent will be paid. In this way, the Catch-22 that arises between tenant and landlord is overlapped.

Civil society makes fantastic contributions. But it is also reasonable for the public sector to take its responsibility, and a municipal rental guarantee is another way to remove this Catch-22.

Madam Speaker! It is important to emphasize that a municipal rental guarantee shall not restrict the municipalities' obligations under the Social Services Act. This is, therefore, a tool for the municipalities to work with a social housing supply, not a replacement for interventions that the social services already perform.

With homelessness and insecure housing conditions, other social problems naturally also arise. Providing people with the opportunity for their own housing early on will, in many cases, also prevent other problems.

Municipal rental guarantees are an important building block for a better functioning housing market, especially when it comes to helping hard-working people to also arrange their own housing. Step by step, the moderate-led government is getting Sweden in order.

With that, Madam Speaker, I move for approval of the committee's proposal for a decision.

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Larry Söder (KD)

Madam Speaker! Socially sustainable housing supply is for us Christian Democrats not just a technical issue of rental contracts and municipal administration. It is about something deeper than that. It is about human dignity. It is about the security and the opportunity for every human being to build a stable life. It is a question of promoting security and concrete action rooted in our Christian Democratic view of humanity.

We Christian Democrats see every human being as unique. A secure home is a prerequisite for a good life. Without a roof over one's head, it becomes difficult to create relationships, start a family and care for children, and to work or participate in the community. Therefore, we Christian Democrats think that the municipal rent guarantee as a tool to help particularly vulnerable groups is good, but it has not functioned fully until now. To reform the municipal rent guarantee was necessary so that those in need of it can gain access to it.

We have seen how a dysfunctional housing market has hit the vulnerable hardest. Young adults continue to live at home well into their 20s. People are forced to accept insecure second-hand housing. This is not good enough for a society that wants to call itself civilized.

In the proposition, the Government assesses that it is not sufficient that it is voluntary for the municipalities to provide rental guarantees. The Government therefore proposes that, under certain conditions, the municipalities shall be obliged to provide rental guarantees. As reasons, the Government cites, among other things, that such an arrangement will create more equal conditions for obtaining a permanent home as well as counteract insecure housing conditions and exclusion from the housing market.

Through municipal rental guarantees, I believe we can break the negative spiral. It is about giving a chance while simultaneously maintaining respect for the fact that it is a great responsibility to rent out a home. The property owner should not have to fear that the guarantee will become a blank check. The municipalities must have the possibility of reclamation and follow-up where it is justified.

We do not accept systemic failures that lock people into exclusion. We want a policy that sees the human being with both rights and responsibilities. Let us therefore work together for a housing supply characterized by security for those who actually need support, responsibility for both the individual and society, but also the opportunity to stand on one's own feet.

I would have wished that I did not have to give this speech, and for a while in the debate, I did not think I would have to do so either. I could have signed off on every word in the Social Democrat Markus Kallifatides' speech – until he went beyond what the bill actually concerns. It is an absurdity that we are constantly discussing things other than what it is about. Perhaps we can manage to discuss what is within the bill.

Why do I say that? Well, because people ask me, actually daily: Why can the parties not agree on housing policy? It is quite simple. The parties cannot even agree on municipal rent guarantees! The Social Democrats in government commissioned the investigation, and we have presented the proposal. But still, not everyone says that this was great without having to discuss this in other ways and in other places. I think it is reprehensible, if I am to be perfectly honest.

We must be able to give each other credit when we do something good, and we must be able to criticize each other when something is bad. But we should not even need to discuss this proposition. It is so obvious. With those words, I move for approval of the committee's proposal.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(Decisions were made under § 18.)

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