Response to interpellations 2023/24:259 and 268 on the housing situation in Sweden

Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)

Madam Speaker! Eva Lindh has asked me how I intend to act to counter homelessness, how I intend to handle the housing shortage, and when the new mapping of homelessness in Sweden will be presented. Adrian Magnusson has asked me which reforms I intend to present to ensure that the housing situation for students is improved during the mandate period and what I have done so far to improve the housing situation for students.

I want to start by saying that I share the interpellants' view of the situation on the housing market. More housing needs to be built across the country, and it is important that there is a supply of different types of tenure forms and housing that fits different stages of life.

Sweden is in a difficult economic situation where housing construction has decreased significantly as a result of global factors such as high inflation and rapidly rising interest rates. The high inflation and rising interest rates have affected households' demand for housing and contributed to high production and financing costs. Housing construction has been largely affected by the weaker demand in the economy.

Regarding the situation for people experiencing homelessness, I can state that Socialstyrelsen, on behalf of the government, has mapped homelessness in Sweden every six years since 1993. In 2022, Socialstyrelsen was commissioned, within the framework of the national strategy to counter homelessness 2022-2026, to plan and prepare a national homelessness mapping in order to determine the extent and character of homelessness. During 2023, Socialstyrelsen carried out the mapping through two different survey studies. Socialstyrelsen will report the results of the mapping when the agency submits the final report on the assignment by February 1, 2024, at the latest.

Due to the continued high inflation, it is proposed in the budget bill for 2024 that the temporary additional grant to families with children receiving housing allowance be extended for an additional six months until June 30, 2024. By extending the temporary increase of the housing allowance, we reach those families with children who have a weak economy and are therefore particularly vulnerable to increased living costs. For a family with children, it can mean up to 2,100 kronor extra per month.

The Swedish Enforcement Authority's latest statistics show that the number of evictions has increased in recent years and that more and more children are affected. Evictions can, in the worst case, lead to acute homelessness and long-term exclusion from the housing market. The preventive work is therefore an important part of the government's national homelessness strategy.

The Swedish Enforcement Authority has been tasked to work towards establishing a prevention-oriented cooperation with social services and landlords in all municipalities.

The social services have an important role in preventing individuals and families from being evicted from their homes, among other things by cooperating with landlords and offering interventions to individuals.

Ensuring local routines for handling cases when children are affected by the risk of eviction is particularly important. In a guidance that the National Board of Health and Welfare has developed, the social services are provided with support on how they can work and cooperate regarding the prevention of evictions. The County Administrative Boards also have a mandate, during the period for the national strategy 2022-2026, to support the municipalities in their work to counteract homelessness.

Socialstyrelsen also has a mandate, during the period for the national strategy 2022-2026, to allocate state grants to municipalities to strengthen the work against homelessness by starting or expanding their work according to the Housing First method. The mandate also includes developing national methodological support, training, and follow-up during the implementation and further development of Housing First.

When it comes to student housing, both Boverket's housing market survey and Sveriges Förenade Studentkårers annual survey have over several years demonstrated a shortage of student housing. According to the municipalities, there is a high demand for student housing at the start of the term, especially before the autumn term, while during the spring and summer there is a significantly lower demand. According to Boverket, there has been a trend in recent years where the number of municipalities reporting a shortage has decreased slightly each year.

A measure that the government wants to take is to introduce new income bases for, among other things, housing allowance based on data at the individual level in the employer declarations, so-called monthly figures, this in order to increase accuracy and reduce the risk of incorrect payments, clawbacks, and indebtedness. The government intends to return with a proposal. This is in line with what Sveriges Förenade Studentkårer has put forward.

The Government has also tasked Boverket with preparing proposals for significant relaxations of the building requirements for student housing. The purpose of the assignment is to investigate the possibilities of significantly reducing costs in the construction of student housing and enabling an increased and more differentiated supply of these in the short and long term. The assignment is to be reported on April 30, 2024.

To improve the housing market in the long term, reforms are needed to address the structural problems in the construction and housing market that affect everyone who needs a home. The objective is to increase the availability of buildable land, simplify the building regulations, shorten lead times in the planning and building process, and improve the opportunities for home ownership.

In order to reduce the risk of construction workers leaving the industry in the short term, the government has also indicated that the ceiling for the tax deduction for repairs (rotavdrag) shall be temporarily raised. The more detailed conditions are set out in a memorandum from the Ministry of Finance which is currently under consultation.

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

Eva Lindh (S)

Madam Speaker! The feeling of coming home to one's own home, a place where one can take off one's clothes and exhale, is a feeling that many recognize - unfortunately, fewer and fewer.

Having a home is important for all of us - a residence to come home to and, hopefully, feel safe in. That is why the right to a home is enshrined in the Swedish Instrument of Government and is considered a human right.

But a year after the election, Sweden finds itself in a construction crisis. Housing construction is falling sharply across the entire country. Over the last half-year, it has decreased by 57 percent compared to the previous year. There is already a housing shortage in most municipalities. People are standing in line to get a home. And we are now seeing the largest decline in housing construction since the 90s crisis. And the situation is truly serious.

This slowdown is naturally affected by inflation and the interest rate situation. The Minister for Housing has said this on several occasions. But something can be done about it. Something can be done about inflation and also actually tackle the housing crisis and the construction crisis that we are currently in. For I assume that the Minister for Housing does not intend to overrule what the Minister for Finance says. The Minister for Finance has also on several occasions stated that the Social Democratic policy takes responsibility for inflation - that our budget takes responsibility for inflation - so that it is possible to both manage inflation and ensure that housing is built.

One can have many views and debates about the investment support. But to remove the investment support in this situation at this time can be called nothing other than irresponsible. The investment support has actually been crucial for many apartments to have been built. In Östergötland, it concerns at least 1,300 homes. It would have made a difference in this situation.

I do not understand why the answer to Adrian Magnusson's and my interpellation are being merged. But in this answer, the Minister for Housing says, contrary to previous answers, that he truly understands the situation.

But what is so upsetting is that if one sees that there is a major problem, that we have a construction crisis and that people are now in vain standing in housing queues, one actually does not act. Because one does not. There are no proposals in the budget, and there are no proposals to seriously tackle this in the answers that the Minister for Housing has given.

Now bankruptcies are increasing by 33 percent in Östergötland. Thousands of people are in housing queues, and homelessness is increasing. And we see absolutely nothing. Sweden can do better than this.

(Applause)

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

Adrian Magnusson (S)

Madam Speaker! I thank Minister Carlson for the answer.

Before we discuss the government's response to the interpellation, I just want to briefly say that I think this could become a rather scattered debate. It is somewhat remarkable that a debate on homelessness is being merged with a debate on student housing. These are two important issues that are now to be discussed under the same umbrella. I think it is a bit of a strange signal from the government to the country's students that their probably greatest concern does not even deserve its own debate. But the government is responsible for its own signals and owns them.

According to a report from Sveriges Förenade Studentkårer 2023 on the housing situation for students, ten student cities are red-listed regarding the availability of student housing. Among these are some of the most popular student cities such as Lund, Göteborg, Uppsala, and Stockholm. It is a brutal reality that students are forced to turn down dream educations because they cannot secure a home, not to mention the impact on well-being that it has to perhaps be forced to jump between first-hand, second-hand, third-hand, sixth-hand, or eighth-hand contracts if they do manage to get any housing or something like a storage unit to live in.

Madam Speaker! There is an obvious shortage of student housing in this country. There is also a situation with increasing rents. This in turn makes it difficult for students to rent the housing that exists, if it exists at all. It is, therefore, a double-edged sword being swung against Sweden's students. And this sword strikes directly against the students' dreams.

One could imagine a comprehensive reform package to address this. The Government is happy to talk about the need for more engineers and about more people educating themselves in professions where there is a shortage. The Prime Minister has on some occasions spoken about the importance of social mobility and so on. But that is not the case, Madam Speaker.

In response to the interpellation, reference is made to a mandate that the government has given to Boverket. It is mentioned there, among other things, that Boverket has been tasked to investigate relaxations in the requirements regarding the suitability of dwellings for the intended purpose, accessibility and usability, protection with regard to hygiene, health and environment, regarding day and sunlight, as well as protection against noise.

How many student residences does the Minister expect such a reform to provide?

Reference is also made to a reform of the housing allowance, which Sveriges Förenade Studentkårer has welcomed, and that a monthly-based system for the income test is to be introduced. How many student residences does the Minister expect such a reform to provide?

Madam Speaker! The Minister does not mention what Sveriges Förenade Studentkårer primarily requests in its 2023 report regarding students' housing situation, and I can understand why. What is requested are state incentives, targeted incentives towards precisely the construction of student housing in order to be able to give more young people the opportunity to move out of their homes and to be able to give that working-class lad in Åtvidaberg the opportunity to move to Lund to become an engineer. It is this that has built the Swedish society strong, the opportunity for all people in this country, regardless of class background and other background, to build the lives of their dreams.

Madam Speaker! The Social Democrats are proposing a targeted investment support for the construction of student housing. If the government is now so dismissive of the more extensive investment support, at least a narrower and more targeted investment support should be something that can be looked at and that could be appealing.

I urge the government to remove the ideological blinkers, break free from the straitjacket of market and neoliberalism, and join the Social Democrats' proposal. It would have been a simple and good way to ensure that more student housing is built from Lund and Malmö in the south to Kiruna and Luleå in the north.

(Applause)

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

AMALIA RUD PEDERSEN (S)

Madam Speaker! Just as Adrian Magnusson said, we have an acute housing situation in our country, and it affects Sweden's students in particular.

According to Sveriges Förenade Studentkårer, there are approximately 400,000 students right now and only 100,000 student residences. It is an equation that, according to the government itself, does not add up.

Many students testify that they turn down a study place because there is nowhere to live or because the rent is far too high. More and more young adults are also becoming dependent on their family or parents being well-off financially when it comes to the opportunity to study. This risks resulting in a skewed recruitment of students where one's background and economic situation, not even grades or the will to study and gain more knowledge, plays a decisive role.

The lack of secure student housing is leading more and more students to a very uncertain primary and secondary market. In that market, female students are subjected to sexism and asked if they can consider paying in kind. Students with an ethnic background other than Swedish testify that it is even harder for them to access a home as structural discrimination and racism occur.

Madam Speaker! Quite honestly – we cannot have it this way in our country. If we seriously want to be a strong knowledge nation, both for students who live and reside here now and for students who want to move to Sweden, the policy must also act. The government must act and do something. It is actually you who have the power right now, the members of the government. The government and the members of the government cannot view students' stories as individual testimonies; instead, one must see that it is part of a structural problem that can only be solved through an active housing market.

Therefore, I ask, Madam Speaker: Can the Minister seriously say that there is an active housing policy right now and that he is satisfied with the situation that Sweden's students are in? What will the Minister, in that case, do next and during the time he has left of his term of office to improve the situation for Sweden's students?

(Applause)

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

Mikael Eskilandersson (SD)

Madam Speaker! Yes, homelessness is unfortunately a relatively large problem in Sweden. We can read in one of the interpellations that the stories about the problems are many and should also be heard by the Government Offices. Member Eva Lindh writes this in her interpellation. I would like to say that the problems are, above all, not new, so why were they not heard by the Government Offices earlier? What is being criticized is closely linked to the eight years of lost housing policy that we have lived through.

For me, it is important that there is a strong safety net when it is needed, and precisely for that reason, it is important that we do not waste money on those people who actually have the means and opportunity to pay for their own housing. If the funds are spent on the wrong people and the wrong things, there are no funds for those who truly need them. I believe that we should instead strengthen individuals who truly need the state's help, but unfortunately, this was not the prevailing policy during the previous government's time.

This autumn, the Committee on Civil Affairs visited Karlstad, where we, among other things, were given a tour of the newly built houses constructed centrally and near the coast outside Karlstad. Here, the previous government pumped in 550 million in housing subsidies – this in order to keep down the rent for people who, in the vast majority of cases, actually had the means to pay for their own housing. 550 million kronor is an unimaginably large amount of money. It is as much as my home municipality, Örkelljunga, spends on both the social services department and the education department, i.e., the total cost for the entire municipality's activities in these areas. If one were to add another 100 million, one would have the entire municipality's budget.

The worst thing, however, is not that 550 million has been spent in Karlstad on housing that would have been built anyway, but the worst thing is that this is in no way a unique miscalculation. During the autumn, I visited Lund and the new area being built up around the research projects Max IV and ESS. Even here, it is one of the most sought-after areas in the municipality that has received an enormous contribution to keep the rents down – for people who definitely have the means to pay for their own housing.

It is this type of misallocation that results in there being no money when it comes to people who truly need help to afford their housing. They are not helped by pumping in hundreds of millions into stylish apartments for international researchers in Lund or over half a billion in housing in central Karlstad. What is needed is a strengthening of the individual so that they can demand the apartments that already exist on the market. For this, more far-reaching measures are also needed, such as Bostad först.

The decline in housing construction is serious. The question was asked here earlier: Can anything be done about it? One definitely cannot do as the Social Democrats want and just pump money into the system. That is not taking responsibility in the situation we find ourselves in now. Strengthening the rotavdrag, as the government and we propose, is one part that one actually can do. But pumping in billions would obviously affect inflation, and that is as far from taking responsibility as one can get in this situation.

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

Markus Kallifatides (S)

Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the previous answer and also the interpellants for the opportunity to participate in this important debate.

For over a year, we Social Democrats have warned of an imminent collapse in housing construction, and now we stand here with pitch-black forecasts and headlines. The housing shortage will worsen, and the labor market will be hampered by the lack of housing. Industrial expansions are threatened, and it is bankruptcies and unemployment in the construction sector. For every skilled worker who now disappears from the industry, it also becomes harder to speed up construction further ahead.

For over a year, we Social Democrats have warned about the risks of the entire Western world now moving away from the zero-interest-rate society. Waiting for interest rates to fall is, of course, no solution at all in the short term, but it is probably no solution in the long term either. The higher interest rate level is here to stay. The purchasing power of households is hollowed out for a long time to come.

We Social Democrats pushed through support for the production of new rental apartments with lower rent levels even when interest rates were very low and construction was high. 50,000-60,000 completed homes per year during our time in government is still quite a bit more than the 20,000 that are now projected. The SD-led government chose as its first measure to abolish the investment support. It must be one of the most poorly timed economic-policy decisions in our country in recent decades. We Social Democrats see that the state must, on the contrary, now step forward in the new situation - not back down but step forward!

Today I have listened to Andreas Carlson for an entire afternoon and evening. The points of the motion are the same, Madam Speaker.

The government says it has the goal of increasing the availability of buildable land, but it is we Social Democrats who have the proposal for a new unified housing supply act – that municipalities should be able to be mandated to plan and build, and that those municipalities that transfer the housing supply responsibility to neighboring municipalities should not be able to take for granted that they can count on state support for other initiatives. It is also we who propose a national action plan for housing supply. Andreas Carlson initiates a review of the shore protection – after, together with the Sverigedemokraterna, during the previous mandate period having voted down a proposal on shore protection that would have been in place this day.

The government says it wants to simplify the building regulations, Madam Speaker. The Swedish Board of Building Regulations' proposal on modern building regulations was initiated by a Social Democratic-led government. It is now out for consultation and has received 1,400 consultation responses, Madam Speaker. Andreas Carlson has commissioned a review of rules for student housing.

The government says it wants to shorten the lead times in the planning and building process, but as far as I know, no proposals have been submitted. The government says it wants to improve the opportunities for home ownership. We have proposed start loans. The government has not proposed anything at all, as far as I know.

In addition, we Social Democrats have proposed a state construction stimulus of 3 billion SEK in 2024, state construction loans of 5 billion, and the formation of a state real estate company. We have proposed that public housing should be exempted from the Public Procurement Act.

We Social Democrats say it as it is: It is a crisis. And we propose what is required, fully funded. The question, Madam Speaker, is: Why is this government not doing this?

(Applause)

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

Patrik Björck (S)

Madam Speaker! I requested the floor because I wanted to comment on the Sverigedemokraterna member's contribution. Normally, I might not have cared. But given that Sverigedemokraterna has a decisive influence on government policy, it is nevertheless interesting to find out what lies behind the somewhat more sophisticated version we hear from Andreas Carlson and what really lies behind the government policy when the Sverigedemokraterna representative takes the floor.

It becomes extremely clear, Madam Speaker, that the Sweden Democrats are completely uninterested in strengthening housing construction. It was so completely astonishingly clear that the only thing the Sweden Democrats want to strengthen is segregation. They become upset at the thought that ordinary people should be able to afford to live centrally in Karlstad. That would be a problem for the Sweden Democrats. It is very revealing. Lower rents, the Sweden Democrats consider a problem. It is important not to support the wrong people. Imagine if ordinary people move into attractive residential areas! It scares the Sweden Democrats. And imagine if those ordinary people perhaps have a name that the member cannot pronounce – what do I know?

The leading party in this government is completely uninterested in strengthening housing construction. They are only interested in strengthening segregation. That was a very clear message from the Sweden Democrats' representative here today. I hope that Andreas Carlson can answer whether he and the government also support that ambition. But it was very clarifying to hear where the Sweden Democrats stand.

(Applause)

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

Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)

Madam Speaker! Regarding Patrik Björck's question at the end, I believe that Mikael Eskilander himself can answer that. The government is, of course, working to break down segregation and increase integration. It is an important task, and I believe that everyone realizes the need for it. It is not directly the subject of this debate, but I still want to take the opportunity to say it.

I also want to say that my impression of Mikael Eskilander, when we meet within the framework of the cooperation parties' joint cooperation, is definitely that he is interested in increasing housing construction. We do, however, have a tough situation on the housing market right now that affects the most vulnerable, and with this I want to address the interpellators' questions.

I gave a detailed answer in the first round, Madam Speaker. But let me elaborate on what concerns the work of the Enforcement Authority. The Enforcement Authority's latest statistics show that the number of evictions has increased in recent years and that more and more children are affected. Evictions can, in the worst case, lead to acute homelessness and long-term exclusion from the housing market.

Preventive work is therefore an important part of the government's national homelessness strategy. The Swedish Enforcement Authority has been tasked to work towards establishing a cooperation to prevent evictions with social services and landlords in all municipalities in Sweden. Social services have an important role in preventing individuals and families from being evicted from their homes, among other things by cooperating with landlords and offering interventions to individuals.

Ensuring local routines for handling cases where children are affected by the risk of removal is particularly important, and in a guidance that Socialstyrelsen has developed, the social services receive support in how they can work and cooperate regarding the prevention of removals.

The County Administrative Boards also have a mandate to support the municipalities in their work to counter homelessness during the period for the national strategy 2022-2026. The National Board of Health and Welfare has a mandate to distribute 70 million during the period for the national strategy through a targeted multi-year government grant to the municipalities 2023-2026 by strengthening the work against homelessness by starting or expanding their work according to the Housing First method. The initiative included 30 million kronor in 2022 and has thus been strengthened through the government's budget and decisions from this year onwards. The mandate also includes developing a national methodological support, training, and follow-up during the implementation and further development of Housing First.

Many households have, as we have touched upon in the debate, faced increased living costs. Housing costs are the single largest expense for many households. In order to provide families with children and low incomes with extra resources so that they get better conditions and a somewhat more bearable existence, the government has both extended and strengthened the temporary housing allowance. This was something good that the previous government did with the housing allowance, and the government has done it even better by strengthening it. For a family with children, this can today mean up to 2,100 kronor extra per month.

When it comes to student housing, Amalia Rud Pedersen asked if I am satisfied with the situation for Sweden's students. No, I am not. We have a housing shortage, and we have a shortage of student housing. More student housing needs to be built so that Sweden can be a knowledge nation even in the future. That is the great purpose of the assignment to investigate the possibility of significantly reducing the costs of building student housing and to enable an increased and more differentiated supply through the regulatory simplifications that Boverket is to develop in the report that is to be submitted to me by April 30 at the latest.

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

Eva Lindh (S)

Madam Speaker! The queues for housing are long. We have young people who cannot move out of their parents' homes and create an independent life. We have women who cannot leave a violent partner and families who cannot move to a smaller home when the economy becomes difficult. As said: The stories are many, and they should also be heard by the SD-led government.

No mapping has been done for a long time. I am nevertheless pleased with the answer that one will now be conducted in February of the coming year. But nothing indicates that homelessness has decreased, and it also affects, as the Minister for Housing has said, the children. Children are being evicted. That is the background as to why I think it is important to discuss the housing situation and homelessness in Sweden.

I want to comment on the Minister for Housing's response to the interpellation, and I hope that the Minister listens. I think it is incredibly bold to, as the Minister for Housing has done several times, say that the Social Democrats did not do enough. One can see that there is actually a difference. We introduced a national strategy against homelessness, and housing was built.

What is being done now? Housing is not being built. Even if one now refers to a little more money for municipalities and to a strategy, there are simply no homes to move into because the government does not ensure that housing is built.

What the Minister for Housing said in a previous debate about holding on and holding out – is that really what one wants to send out to those who are in the queue for housing? Is that what one wants to say to the homeless – that they should hold on and hold out? Time and again, it is said that the problems are seen, but nothing is done.

So, a brief comment on what was said about the child allowances and that they were good. We increased them in a previous budget. That was against the background of the situation that existed then. Now the economic crisis is much worse. Then one should not just do what the Social Democrats did in the time that was. Then one should strengthen the economy for those families with children who now have it extremely tough in this economic situation.

I want to turn to the Sverigedemokraterna member who is participating here in the debate. I think it is so tiring that Sverigedemokraterna is constantly talking about how wrong everyone else's policy is but never about what one wants to do oneself. It is tiring.

What is sad, and even distressing, is that when time is given to hold a debate here and discuss the serious housing shortage in Sweden, the Sverigedemokraterna member here persists in focusing on what the Socialdemokraterna do or do not. He seems very upset about it. But the situation for people in Sweden is not addressed.

Then one must ask the question, just as Patrik Björck pointed out: What does it mean that money is spent on the wrong things? Does it mean that it is okay for certain people in Sweden to be homeless? I truly and seriously desire an answer to that in this debate.

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Adrian Magnusson (S)

Madam Speaker! In my first contribution, I did not even mention the cities that Sveriges Förenade Studentkårer list as yellow. There are ten of them. In four of them, the situation has worsened during 2023 compared to 2022. Yellow means that students can be offered housing at some point during the autumn semester, as opposed to the red ones where the situation is even more serious. The situation is therefore serious for Sweden's students. It is becoming increasingly difficult to secure a student apartment.

The Minister has briefly explained here today the government's alleged reform agenda and has spoken about the relaxations in the regulatory framework. What kind of relaxations are they, one might ask? How will they turn out in practice?

I am happy to speak about Lund. Should students in Lund, for example, live along the E22 in bunker-like buildings and breathe in exhaust fumes day and night? Is that what is the intention? I do not know. Should they perhaps live in shoeboxes, very small apartments? I do not know. In other contexts, the Minister highlights the views of Sveriges Förenade Studentkårer. Just this is not something that is being requested. But the government pushes on anyway.

The Minister has been asked what is to be done until 2026. It can only be stated that it is very thin. It is a reform that can provide student housing that is to be reported in 2024. I cannot get a figure on how many housing units the department and the Minister have accounted for when I ask for it. No one knows what will become of this. Students are living in a housing policy vacuum, and no one knows what will happen.

I must raise the issue of the luxury tax. What does it have to do with the interpellation response? I cannot understand it. This is a question about students' housing situation. Then one raises the luxury tax as some kind of housing policy instrument.

Where are the students who are going to replace marble slabs in kitchens in large numbers? Where are they? I have never seen them. I do not know what it was like during the Minister's time as a student. But we did not, in any case, sit and talk about replacing marble slabs when I studied, I can promise that.

I almost find it provoking to see that question arise. People speak of it saving construction workers. It will not save particularly many construction workers. It will not ensure that we have construction workers who do not become unemployed. We will have construction workers in droves who are unemployed if nothing is done. It is not as if we will have a lot of masons who will be swapping marble slabs in Danderyd, or have concrete workers who will suddenly be swapping marble slabs in Täby. They will become unemployed.

When the government's housing policy has struck full force against Sweden's students, we will have an even more difficult situation than we have today. There will be no construction workers who can help build student housing. All of Sweden's students should be concerned. I am concerned in any case. I can attest to that.

The Minister does not mention free rent setting in his answer. We should be very grateful for that, because it is aired sometimes. It would be devastating. We already have student housing in some cities today that students simply cannot afford to move into. In the question period last week, the Prime Minister did not rule out that such a proposal would end up on the Riksdag's table. We can only hope that we never see any sign of such a proposal.

Study controllers are also something that has been highlighted by Sveriges Förenade Studentkårer. But it is nothing that is highlighted in the government's response. It is a fairly simple measure, one might think, to ensure that students live in the student residences. But it is nothing that is highlighted.

Time is running out. The parliamentary term will pass quickly. The vacuum remains. Where are the reforms, Minister Carlson?

(Applause)

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

AMALIA RUD PEDERSEN (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer to the question!

I would like to begin by stating that, for a debate on housing policy for students, it is extremely little politics that is being put forward from the government's side.

Just as Adrian Magnusson was involved in classifying, in the report that Sveriges Förenade Studentkårer has produced, municipalities are classified as green, yellow, or red depending on how secure housing for students they have. Green study locations are those that can offer students housing within a month. Yellow are municipalities that can offer students a secure form of housing during the autumn semester. Red are those that cannot at any time during the autumn semester offer secure housing. Just over 30 percent of all of Sweden's students live today in a green or yellow area, while a large majority, 70 percent of all students, live or actually want to live in a red study location. The red study locations are found in the largest cities. These are cities where there is already a large housing shortage today and where the housing shortage risks being further exacerbated with these figures.

Many municipalities in Sweden are doing their utmost so that more student housing is built. But as I said in my previous speech, the housing situation for students must be addressed at a national level and be seen as a national problem.

Politics is about prioritizing. The Minister says that he is not satisfied with the situation for Sweden's students. I pose my question once more: What has the Minister intended to do during the time remaining of the mandate period to significantly improve students' situation in Sweden?

(Applause)

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Mikael Eskilandersson (SD)

Madam Speaker! I shall perhaps begin by addressing Patrik Björck's and Eva Lindh's somewhat strange interjections here regarding that I would be completely uninterested in strengthening housing construction and that I would not take the homeless into account.

If one adds these sums of half a billion or several hundred million to build a block where houses would have been built anyway, one can wonder who it is that is uninterested in helping the homeless.

Eva Lindh also wants an answer as to what is meant by spending money on the wrong things. One spends half a billion on a block that would have been built anyway, or a couple of hundred million on some buildings in Lund. These are completely unreasonable sums that have been spent on buildings that, with all probability, would have been built regardless. There would have been more of them that probably would have become condominiums that would have been sold anyway. But one cannot think so poorly of people owning their own home that one takes such enormous sums and throws them into that project. Then one has to cut back on other things, and then one does not have money for those who actually need it. That is where we as politicians must be able to prioritize what is the right thing over what is the wrong thing.

We heard how Markus Kallifatides threw around 3 billion and 5 billion and billion after billion. Had the Social Democrats been allowed to decide, billions would have been pumped into the system right now, and then we would probably have had to wait for interest rate hikes because the Riksbank must stabilize inflation. Further interest rate hikes right now would probably have been among the worst we could get to produce more housing.

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Markus Kallifatides (S)

Madam Speaker! To Mikael Eskilandersson, I can say that the Social Democrats have a fully funded budget motion. Please read it out!

Politics is about priorities, said Amalia Rud Pedersen. I truly agree, Madam Speaker. For this government, it has been very important with 50 billion in electricity support without a cap, which is completely crazy. For this government, it has been very important with a general tax cut on diesel. It has been so important that we throw billions into the mouths of oil companies. Inflation protection for high-income earners' incomes has been very important for this government. Increased deduction possibilities for cleaning services and replacing kitchen countertops also have the highest priority. Reduced tax on plastic bags was also important. But when it comes to finding what in this context is a small amount of money to maintain momentum in housing construction, for example for the homeless, for students without inherited money, and for industrial workers who are going to move to new jobs in new locations, the answer is: No, no money!

Madam Speaker! There is not a single economist on earth who seriously claims that the electricity subsidies as they have been designed, a general diesel tax cut, the rutavdrag, or for all parts the temporarily increased rutavdrag, would be socio-economically better measures than, for example, a targeted construction stimulus for student housing - not a single one.

Madam Speaker! It would be more honorable and better for our democracy if Andreas Carlson would simply admit that this government is okay with housing construction collapsing. If we do not reach the goals, we do not reach the goals. That is just how it is, Infrastructure and Housing Minister Andreas Carlson?

(Applause)

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Patrik Björck (S)

Madam Speaker! Minister Andreas Carlson was careful not to distance himself from the SD member's clear position that lower rents would be a problem. I note that. Minister Andreas Carlson was also careful not to distance himself from the SD member's clear position that reduced segregation would be a problem. I noticed that.

This is serious but not unexpected. SD's influence on the government harms Sweden. Now, the SD member in his second post, where he was to clarify his position on housing policy, meant that condominiums are the answer to high rents. If one believes that, one lives in a completely different reality than all those who are demanding cheap and good apartments.

If condominiums had been the solution in housing policy, we would not have had any housing shortage in Sweden. But we need an active housing policy to offer reasonable rents and good housing to ordinary people. That is what we Social Democrats want to achieve. But it is also what the Housing Minister does not prioritize and what the SD member actively opposes.

(Applause)

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Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)

Madam Speaker! More student housing needs to be built in Sweden. We are now reviewing the regulations and will remove obstacles that hinder construction. That is what the mandate to Boverket aims at. It should not have to be that 20 percent of a student apartment must consist of a toilet. Calculations from the industry and the student housing companies show that if the dimension chain for hallway and bathroom is reduced by just a couple of decimeters, an estimated 15-20 percent more student housing can be built. I have not heard the members bring up the various inputs from the student housing companies in this debate. But it would be interesting to hear that, perhaps at another time.

I am aware that it is quite late on a Monday evening here in the chamber, but there is nothing in the proposals that points to what Adrian Magnusson says about students having to live next to the highway and breathe in exhaust fumes. On the other hand, there are noise levels and noise requirements today. The noise levels are measured today, among other things, at the outside of the house on the facade. It is therefore not only about how the noise is in the apartment itself. Reasonable rule changes allow for more and cheaper construction in other locations than what is currently possible for student housing, for example near campus.

These are two parts of the investigation that Boverket now has a mandate to work on in order to produce proposals regarding.

It would be interesting to hear if it is the case that the Social Democrats will be against these proposals. The investigation is still ongoing, but I would think it would be interesting if the members were already in advance rejecting proposals that are estimated to be able to result in 15-20 percent more student housing being built by simplifying and improving building regulations specifically for student housing. I would like to have an answer to that question in this debate. I do not demand an answer from the members; we have a majority in the Swedish Riksdag to implement proposals that improve and simplify and allow us to build more student housing in Sweden.

When it comes to the question of rot: This debate is about the housing situation in Sweden; that is the headline of one of the interpellations. The rot deduction is a cyclical measure that can save some jobs in the housing sector, which is a hard-pressed industry right now.

Member of Parliament Patrik Björck interprets "hello" very freely. Of course, he is free to do so. But there is nothing in what I said that in any way suggests that we would not work to improve integration in Sweden.

When it comes to the investment support, it is the case that 40 percent of it went to projects that would have been built anyway. That is 10 billion kronor - this according to Hyresgästföreningens report. These are funds that are needed in welfare and for the municipalities. I have mentioned the social services' most important role.

Eva Lindh asked a question about not only continuing with what has been done but strengthening the economy for those families with children who are having a tough time. That is exactly what we are doing. We are reinforcing the housing allowance and raising it compared to the previous government. It is something that is very important and that I am very proud of. It eases the pressure and increases the margins slightly for the most vulnerable families with children.

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Eva Lindh (S)

Madam Speaker! I can only conclude that the Sweden Democrats obviously do not consider the construction crisis and the current housing situation to be such a major problem.

I also want to turn to the Minister for Housing. I thank you for the debate. I think it is important that the Minister for Housing, in his answer, describes the difficult situation that prevails today. Let us be in agreement on this.

With that said, I still think, even if it might be a minor point, that it feels a bit ridiculous that the Minister for Housing is raising these questions about building standards. It is clear that we are open to looking at things that simplify. But to say that the Social Democrats left an empty table, I actually find that outrageous.

When we stand in this chamber and talk about how homelessness is increasing, that young people cannot move out from home, that we have thousands in a housing queue and that we have a construction crisis that has not been worse since the 90s crisis - and we who were there then know how bad it was - and the Minister then cannot come up with anything other than luxury-rot in the stomach. It is actually outrageous - not primarily for me, for I have a home to go to, but we have many people who do not. It is precisely what this interpellation is about.

I think it is sad to be unable to offer anything else but just repeatedly state that one sees the problem but does nothing about it.

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Adrian Magnusson (S)

Madam Speaker! The Minister is trying to build some kind of conflict between the welfare policy and the housing policy of the Social Democrats. We managed to invest in both welfare and housing policy when we were in government. This government manages neither. I still think that one needs to say that. Welfare is currently undergoing a steel bath, and the housing policy is non-existent.

In the housing policy debates, it becomes very clear that this government represents completely different interests than the Social Democrats do. So it is in these types of issues where one sees that the housing policy is non-existent and that no investment is being made, for example, in student housing. They talk about "luxury-rot" as if it were replaced marble slabs in wealthy Stockholm suburbs that are supposed to save the construction sector, and in his answer, the Minister refers only to what the student housing companies have proposed.

It becomes clear that the Swedish right represents completely different interests than social democracy does. I think it is something that one needs to take into account if one looks at this debate.

At the same time as we see that the construction of student housing is decreasing sharply in 2023, and it is referred to that students will have a worse housing situation so that more student housing can be built, bourgeois youth organizations are airing ideas about tuition fees. Somewhere there, one sees how clear it is that this government represents completely different interests than social democracy does.

As Markus Kallifatides said: It is inherited money that in the future will determine whether you can study at a university or not. In that case, one does not need to introduce tuition fees, because it is already segregated.

I think it has become very clear tonight that this government represents completely different interests, namely the interests of a small, privileged group.

(Applause)

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Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)

Madam Speaker! Interests, says Adrian Magnusson. 15-20 percent more student housing can be built with the simplifications and improvements in the regulations that the government has commissioned an inquiry to investigate and which Boverket now has a mandate to produce.

It is said in the debate that no investment is being made in student housing, but those simplifications and proposals will be presented to the government. We will, of course, prepare them and listen to different "interests," as Adrian Magnusson calls them. But obviously, the primary interest here is to increase housing construction, to have more student housing built in Sweden, and to address the structural problems that have built up over a long period. Some of these problems are the requirements here that make it impossible to build, as the industry points out, 15-20 percent more student housing. It is something that we are now addressing.

I appreciate the commitment and hope that we will be able to get a large amount of support for the proposals that we will present. Of course, more student housing needs to be built for Sweden to be a knowledge nation even in the future.

Eva Lindh points out that we agree on the difficult situation. Yes, we do. I described it in my response, and we have touched upon it in this debate. You are aware of the commitment I have, and I appreciate your commitment and the dialogue we have. And you do not need to be worried: We are working full-scale on the reforms that perhaps should have been in place earlier. Then we would have been in a better position. But when it comes to strengthening the work against homelessness, with assignments to Kronofogden and Socialstyrelsen together with the increased housing allowance for 110,000 families with children, we continue this work, of course, which is particularly urgent in a tough time for Sweden.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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