Response to interpellation 2022/23:294 on the conditions for more housing for the elderly
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD wants to create a long-term housing policy by increasing incentives for construction, increasing the availability of buildable land and simplifying the regulatory framework 1. KD is working with Möjligheternas byggregler to modernize and simplify Boverket's building regulations for faster and more cost-effective construction 1 2. KD intends to investigate merging state grants to reduce the administrative burden on municipalities 3 and prioritizes reforms for productivity and growth within the construction sector 4. KD argues that large efforts and dialogue between parties are required 4. C believes that there are structural problems in the housing market 5 and wants to highlight the tax system, the banks' loan calculations and housing subsidies 6. C argues that the complexity of state grants is counterproductive 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! Alireza Akhondi has asked me if I intend to take any initiatives to review or clarify the rules for sheltered housing and other types of housing adapted for the elderly.
Sweden must have a long-term and sustainable housing policy that offers housing for the different stages of life. In the coming years, more and more of the large cohorts of children from the 1940s will turn over 80 years old. This means that they will enter an age where a greater need for care and nursing often arises. This places special demands on the housing stock, and the demand for new housing with a specific focus on the elderly can be expected to increase. This applies to sheltered housing as well as other housing for the elderly.
To meet this demand, the government will work for increased incentives to build, increase the availability of buildable land, and simplify the rules for building. Such a reform agenda can also be beneficial for sheltered housing and other housing for the elderly.
Work for simpler regulations is Möjligheternas byggregler, which is a modernization and simplification of Boverket's building regulations, BBR. Also, the report from Bygglovsutredningen, Ett nytt regelverk för bygglov, which contains several proposals aimed at a simpler, more efficient, and more purposeful regulatory framework, is currently being prepared within the Government Offices. Regulatory simplifications can both simplify construction, so that more housing is created, and lead to lower prices. Simpler building regulations can also facilitate and contribute to a more uniform application of regulations in the municipalities.
A measure that was recently implemented is the introduction of certified building design companies, which is a new actor in the planning and building process. The reform entered into force on August 1 last year. By having certified building design companies replace the municipalities' initial control of whether the building regulations are met, the building process can become more predictable. This can facilitate efficient and repeatable processes.
The Government continues and is now intensifying the work to simplify and improve the rules for building.
Alireza Akhondi (C)
Mr. Speaker! I thank Minister Andreas Carlson for the answer. But I do not quite feel that the Minister answered the question in this specific interpellation. I struggled myself to try to formulate a submission that only concerns just this question. But in reality, just as the Minister suggests, very many different issues are linked when it comes to the functioning of the housing market as such, mobility in the housing market, and different target groups that exist in this housing market. But the core issue in this case concerns the framework for security housing and housing for the elderly. And that is a question that was not quite answered in the interpellation response, which I find a bit unfortunate, even though I naturally understand the Minister's possibilities for answering.
Let me elaborate on this a bit. Now I am making the same mistake myself. We have serious problems on the Swedish housing market today of a structural nature with far-reaching consequences even within other policy areas. If I take, for example, the opportunities for young people and foreign-born people to enter the housing market, it also has social consequences when people are forced to live in areas where a certain type of incidents occur. I was myself raised in Tensta and have truly experienced what it is like to live in the periphery and the consequences that it can have for one's opportunities to get ahead in life.
I return to housing for the elderly, as it is a very important target group. If we look at the demographic maps, we see the problems, and if we do not address this, it risks becoming even worse. Then we also get additional problems with locking in the housing sector in an unfortunate way. I therefore hope that the Minister, in his next statement, develops that very issue somewhat.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for an urgent and important interpellation, Alireza Akhondi! I appreciate the initiative for a dialogue regarding this issue, which is so important for society.
The committee member touched upon the demographics and the need for different types of tenure and different types of housing that can be made available for the elderly. That was also something I touched upon in my opening response, Mr. Speaker. Measures are needed that make the entire planning and building process more efficient, and just as Alireza Akhondi touched upon in his first contribution, this is interconnected. There is no single special solution or fast track that targets just that type of housing.
Therefore, the message is that the government is working very intensively to develop reforms to shorten lead times, simplify and improve building regulations, and increase the availability of buildable land. This will make it easier for groups that today have it difficult on the housing market for various reasons.
When it comes to housing for the elderly, there is no specific regulation for these in PBL or PBF. BBR, i.e., the National Board of Housing's building regulations, contains a provision regarding housing design that applies exclusively to housing for the elderly. Furthermore, BBR has a number of general recommendations where housing for the elderly is mentioned, for example, when it comes to fire classification, noise, and ventilation.
As I said in my opening remarks, Mr. Speaker, these rules are now being reviewed in the work called Möjligheternas byggregler. Boverket is currently working on a major review of the building regulations. They are to be modernized and simplified in order to be able to contribute to faster and more cost-effective construction. The new rules shall promote innovation and technical development as well as contribute to streamlining construction and favoring increased competition.
After the review, the building regulations shall consist of fewer detailed rules, be formulated as functional requirements, and only contain binding regulations. The industry is also involved in this work and has the opportunity to influence it so that it becomes as applicable and as effective as possible in practical construction.
The answer to Alireza Akhondis's question, Mr. Speaker, is therefore that work is underway to review BBR. It is in BBR that there are specific regulations regarding just the housing for the elderly. This is important and something I follow very closely in order to achieve what is the purpose here, that is to move away from detailed building rules and move more towards functional requirements. In that way, one can also increase construction when it comes to housing for the elderly.
Alireza Akhondi is also involved in the structural obstacles and problems that exist when it comes to construction and the housing market. It is also there that the government is working to increase the structural supply of, among other things, buildable land. The municipalities' planning readiness shall be increased, and lead times shall be shortened. It is about the structural factors we can do something about so that the Swedish construction and housing market is better equipped when the economic cycle eventually turns upwards.
The government therefore intends to produce reforms for what I have touched upon: increased construction, a better-functioning housing market, more accessible buildable land, shorter lead times and simplified and improved rules - and also reforms that enable more people to own their homes. Even in that respect, I look forward to a good dialogue with the various parties in the Riksdag, Mr. Speaker, and with Alireza Akhondi. These are urgent issues in the very tough and concerning situation that Sweden finds itself in.
Alireza Akhondi (C)
Mr. Speaker and Minister! I thank the Minister very much for the Minister's humble answer. I also look forward to a broadened dialogue regarding these important societal issues.
I know that the Minister really wants to address this issue. I understand that. But since the first Alliance government took office in 2006, over 60 inquiries have been conducted in the area of the Swedish housing market. I, who am a bit impatient as a person, think it is deeply unfortunate that the parties in the Riksdag—now I am not blaming any individual party, but I believe we all bear a responsibility for the whole—have not succeeded in addressing the structural problems that exist given the population growth, our way of life, and the demographic change.
I would like to make some additional points to the Minister, which I am admittedly convinced the Minister is already well aware of.
When it concerns, for example, this matter of increased incentives to own one's home, the banks' way of calculating loans and other things is an obstacle that affects the elderly's opportunities to own their home. That also has to be looked at in its entirety.
The next question, which also affects mobility, is the design of the tax system in what concerns the housing market. Then we are talking about both the interest deduction and the capital gains tax, as well as other possibilities that affect the total calculation. If one owns a villa of 200 square meters and still needs to move, one cannot really make it work when calculating it.
We also know that a considerable number of those who are entitled to housing allowance do not claim housing allowance. Even though it is a state-financial concern, the question of this, that is, making that possibility visible, can be a way to address another problem and solve it.
The Minister probably knows all this, but I still felt it was important to highlight the somewhat larger issues regarding the whole.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! I believe there is great scope to raise our gaze and look at the challenges we have on the Swedish housing market and do so in a holistic way. As has been said, there is not a single measure that solves the major structural problems that have built up over a long period.
It is true that the alliance government, also when the Christian Democrats held the housing minister portfolio last time, commissioned many inquiries and initiated a lot of work. However, it has unfortunately stalled, at least on a number of fronts, during the eight years in which there has been a revolving door to that post and a large number of housing ministers. My ambition is to take precisely that holistic approach and work in close dialogue with other ministers in the government. The issues that Alireza Akhondi is involved in fall under the areas of responsibility of other state councillors.
To mention the credit restrictions, a commission has been appointed to look specifically at macro-prudential supervision. It is, of course, about it being effective and that we should have good supervision, but also that it should be purposeful so that other obstacles are not built up. It must be well-balanced and purposeful. This mandate has now been given. The decision has thus been made by the government when it comes to one of the parts Alireza Akhondi includes in his co-submissions.
Let me also mention something regarding the state grants within the elderly care area in general. In the budget's expenditure area 9, the government has also announced a review of the state grants. Several of the relevant state grants overlap with each other, and the construction differs. The government intends to investigate the possibility of merging several of the state grants in order to thereby reduce the administrative burden and improve the municipalities' conditions to access the grants.
This could, of course, in itself have a positive impact on the situation for the elderly who today are dependent on elderly care, but also when it comes to the housing issue, I assess that it could be a way to streamline and ensure that different support systems do not overlap with each other. It should instead be purposeful and efficient.
Speaking of the somewhat larger question of structural barriers, it is precisely this that we are now, just as I have said earlier in this interpellation debate, working to develop reforms around. I do not intend to repeat that.
There are also preparatory documents as a result of many investigations having been commissioned. I mentioned, for example, the Building Permit Investigation in my initial response. We are now preparing several of the proposals from there. I look forward to returning to the Riksdag with them, in good dialogue with the Riksdag's various parties.
Alireza Akhondi (C)
Mr. Speaker! Since I am a former head of administration in municipal administration, and since I am a member of the Centre Party, it was music to my ears that a review of the number of state grants is being conducted. The administration and the complexity in the design of certain types of small details regarding state grants are concerning matters, and this unfortunately becomes counterproductive. I believe that we should have great confidence in a clearly designed framework. I believe, as a side note, that the municipal sector is capable of making the right priorities given the local conditions.
There is also something else that I want to send with the Minister. The municipal sector took in approximately 12 billion kronor during 2021 through land sales. If the housing market and construction crash, which we are receiving clear signals about, it could mean another hole in the municipal operations that needs to be managed. During the pandemic years, all parties took in so much with supplements to the municipal sector that there are funds in, for example, the result equalization reserve that could be used to cover current problems. For the coming years, however, one needs to keep in mind that it is quite a lot of money that has disappeared from the municipal sector.
In conclusion: I have heard it said that housing policy does not win elections, but my message to the Minister is that this – on the contrary – is one of the absolute most important societal challenges we have today.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Alireza Akhondi, for this important interpellation debate!
Let me seize on something the member said just at the end, namely that this is a very important and pressing issue. There is a very tough situation in the Swedish economy and on the Swedish housing market. The thresholds, which were already high before this very tough economic situation, are being raised further for many who have difficulty entering the housing market and making the household budget balance.
This is an urgent issue for the government. The Minister for Finance announced during the budget presentation last week that reforms are to be developed. Some of them, which we are working extensively on, I have accounted for here.
In the productivity commission appointed yesterday, the housing market and the needs within the construction sector regarding productivity and growth were highlighted. This is something that the entire government is focusing on now. It is not just an issue for me as Housing Minister, but it is something that is important for the entire government.
We are working on this in a holistic way and on many different fronts. There is, as said, no simple solution that quickly solves this, but this will require major efforts and good dialogue between different parties. I, of course, welcome all the parties in the Riksdag to this dialogue.
We will see each other again in the Committee on Civil Affairs next week, when I, as Minister for Housing, will come there for a visit. I look forward to that.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.