Response to interpellations 2024/25:469 and 470 on the Enforcement Authority's coordination and the application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in evictions
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 M takes the eviction of families with children seriously and emphasizes that all children have the right to a secure upbringing and housing according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1. 1 M argues that the government has tasked Socialstyrelsen with strengthening the work against evictions, analyzing causes, and proposing measures 1. 1 2 M argues that the new Social Services Act shall strengthen the children's rights perspective and that the government has increased resources for the homelessness strategy 1 2. 3 M argues that Kronofogden already has a mandate to work for preventive cooperation in all municipalities 3. 3 M considers that the best way to strengthen a child's situation is for the parents to get a job 3. 3 M emphasizes the work principle so that people can move from benefits to self-sufficiency and avoid benefit dependency 3. 4 M argues that Kronofogden is obliged to have a mandate linked to each municipality in the event of risk of eviction 4. 4 M considers that the job tax credit for low- and middle-income earners is important to get the wheels turning and increase growth 4.
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 Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! Malcolm Momodou Jallow has asked the Minister for Finance if she can consider changing the legislation so that the currently voluntary cooperation between the Enforcement Authority, the landlord, and social services becomes mandatory in order to prevent evictions where children are involved. Malcolm Momodou Jallow has also asked me what measures I intend to take so that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is actually followed in cases where children are involved in an eviction. The work within the government is distributed such that it is I who shall answer both interpellations.
I would like to begin by thanking Malcolm Momodou Jallow for the opportunity to discuss these important issues. I and the government take the occurrence of evictions, or in everyday speech, displacements, seriously, not least among families with children.
All children have the right to a secure upbringing and a bright future, and no child in Sweden should have to be left without a secure home. When families with children are evicted, the children's health, security, and schooling are jeopardized. Children have, in accordance with Article 27 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, i.e., the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the right to the standard of living necessary for the child's physical, mental, moral, and social development. Here, the right to housing constitutes an essential foundation.
Homelessness and insecure housing conditions create insecurity, social problems, and ill health, not least for children. In all measures concerning children, for example in connection with balancing of interests in the eviction of families with children, the best interests of the child shall be considered as a priority. In an eviction, compensatory measures shall be taken. The family with children shall also receive information and be offered the support that the family is entitled to.
Within the framework of the current homelessness strategy for 2022–2026, among others, the National Board of Health and Welfare, the Swedish Enforcement Authority, and the County Administrative Boards have been tasked with supporting the municipalities' work to prevent evictions. The mandate to the Swedish Enforcement Authority has been particularly focused on preventing evictions of families with children.
Just as Malcolm Momodou Jallow pointed out, the government recently tasked Socialstyrelsen with strengthening the work against evictions of families with children. The assignment is central to increasing knowledge on why the number of evictions has increased in recent years. Socialstyrelsen shall, among other things, map out and analyze the causes of the evictions. Socialstyrelsen shall also submit proposals for measures to reduce the number of evictions of families with children. These may also include legislative proposals. The agency shall also report on how different municipalities work to prevent evictions and what measures are taken after an eviction has been carried out, with special consideration for a child perspective.
Furthermore, the National Board of Health and Welfare shall, in close dialogue with the municipalities, support them in their work to reduce the number of evictions of families with children and disseminate knowledge about the results of the assignment. A starting point in the implementation of the assignment is the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The assignment shall be final-reported by May 31, 2027, and shall be interim-reported on December 2 this year.
The Swedish Enforcement Authority's statistics show that there are signs that preventive measures can work well locally. A full 59 percent of the applications for eviction that the authority received from landlords during 2024 were withdrawn. Some withdrawals are due to the tenant and the landlord having reached an agreement or to the social services and the landlord having collaborated. The social services have an important and obvious role when it comes to measures to prevent evictions. This is an urgent issue in the development of the social services that the government is working powerfully for.
The government has submitted a proposal for a new Social Services Act, where a strengthened children's rights perspective is in focus. In addition to a permanent supplement to the municipalities of 186 million kronor, the government has allocated 1.2 billion kronor this year and also estimates allocating 2.2 billion kronor in 2026–2028 to support the transition to a more knowledge-based, accessible, and preventive social service.
Malcolm Momodou Jallow (V)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer, but let me be clear: It is not enough. It is not acceptable that today we have children in Sweden who do not have a home.
For the fourth year in a row, the number of evictions in Sweden is increasing. Last year, 3,042 households lost their homes; that is an increase of 21 percent since 2022. Among these figures – among these evicted people – there are 711 children. They are uprooted and forced to leave their home, their security, and their everyday lives. It is not a natural disaster that has caused this, but rather political decisions and political passivity. It is the government's policy that is the cause of this.
Mr. Speaker! A new study shows that the official statistics are only the tip of an iceberg. For every registered eviction, up to four self-initiated moves occur where families leave the home before the bailiff kicks in the door. People flee before they are thrown out. Their stories are missing from the statistics, just as their children are missing from the government's policy.
What is the government doing while this is ongoing? Well, they choose to phase out the temporary housing allowance for families with children when they need it most. This is a time when food prices have increased by 25 percent, when rents continue to skyrocket, and when the charity queues grow faster than GDP. In this time, the main deduction for villa owners and the interest deduction for housing cooperative owners are prioritized, but for tenants in poverty, there is nothing. They are removing the only support for them.
We have today heard many formulations from the Minister about the best interests of the child, about the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and about preventive work. I completely agree with what she says, but while the government repeats beautiful words, children continue to be evicted in Sweden – in 2025. Those who are evicted today, Mr. Speaker, do not have time to wait until 2027 for a final report or a mapping by the Enforcement Authority. That is two years away. What will happen to all those children who are evicted today until then?
That the government once again responds to an acute social problem by appointing another inquiry is a clear expression of the inability or unwillingness that characterizes the government's social policy. We already know why evictions occur. It is about poverty.
A week ago, I was at a seminar where I met representatives from the Swedish Enforcement Authority (Kronofogden). They said very clearly that they know what the problem is.
According to Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Minister also mentioned, children have the right to a reasonable standard of living, and according to Article 3, the rights of the child shall always be a primary consideration. Even in other articles, the child's right to a home is mentioned. But we are violating this.
This is about families with children who can no longer afford the rent because rents are skyrocketing while food prices, electricity, and interest rates push everything else out. The government's response is to phase out the housing allowance for families with children. The government also does not give the social services any tools so that they can act in time. The government does nothing to stop the evictions that are driving families with children out onto the street.
Mr. Speaker! The cynical thing about this is that the government itself acknowledges that cooperation works when it occurs. But because it is voluntary, it occurs too late and sometimes not at all. Therefore, children are evicted. Why does the government not make this cooperation mandatory as we have proposed? Why do children in Sweden not have the same legal certainty as property owners?
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the member for the contribution and the questions.
Let me assure the member that the government takes evictions very seriously, especially of families with children. Just as the member describes, children risk being uprooted from school, friends, and everything that is secure in life. It is therefore important to make a number of interventions to counteract evictions.
We see that there are municipalities working in a positive way with this, and we must learn from these municipalities. During the last year, 59 percent of the eviction applications were withdrawn. We naturally wish that it would be 100 percent, but 59 percent is an interesting figure because, together with the social services, which are often involved in the process for a long time to help and support, they found ways that allowed these applications to be withdrawn. Therefore, we have given this assignment, but unfortunately, it takes time. I wish it did not, but it takes time to thoroughly review how the work can be further improved. It is about supporting the municipalities and ensuring that we have the municipalities that succeed well as good role models.
My great hope and knowledge from the many discussions I have with social services employees is that the new Social Services Act will provide completely different conditions to work preventatively, outreach-oriented, and together with a number of other actors in a way that has not previously been possible. It will matter for many people in vulnerable situations, including for children and young people linked to their housing situation.
Let me also point out that the government has doubled the amount for the homelessness strategy from 40 to 80 million. This doubling shows that we have a high ambition in this issue. I assume that the member and I agree that no one should end up in homelessness. But "Housing First" is a strategy to work with people who have already ended up there, and this strategy has proven to have a large and long-lasting effect. The government has here increased its investment from 30 to 70 million. We are therefore allocating many resources to counter homelessness and evictions. The figures and the situation the member refers to arose during the previous government, and now the government is working to counter them.
Malcolm Momodou Jallow (V)
Mr. Speaker! I agree with what the Minister says. But I want people to move from words to action, because despite everything that is being done, children are being evicted – 711 just this year. The Minister proudly points out that 59 percent of the eviction applications are withdrawn, but for me, that is no proof of success. It is a proof of how close to the abyss thousands of households live. It is a warning signal, not an argument for continued passivity. We must see this problem.
It is easy to talk about the best interests of the child, but it is action, not words, that determines whether Sweden follows the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Today, the state violates its commitments every time a child loses its home. Therefore, I ask again: Where is the government's urgent action plan to stop the evictions of children? We must stop them. We cannot wait two years, because then even more children will become homeless.
It is not just numbers; it is children's lives. Stadsmissionen meets adult children of homeless people and sees that homelessness is inherited in Sweden 2025. This happens despite the Convention on the Rights of the Child being Swedish law. In over 30 cases where children have been evicted, Hyresgästföreningen has reviewed court decisions and found that in almost all cases, the judgment is made in favor of the landlord. The best interests of the child have not been put first but last, despite that Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that the best interests of the child shall always come first.
The UN has repeatedly criticized Sweden for children being evicted. The government's response is a mapping that is to be completed by 2027. That is not reasonable. Shall we wait for more reports while more children lose their homes?
Mr. Speaker! The last time I met the Enforcement Authority, the message was that they know who the debtors are, where they live, and who is at risk of eviction. One knows all of this, therefore. Yet no one acts and stops it. What else is there that needs to be mapped out?
We are up to 437,000 indebted individuals at the Enforcement Authority, and their debt is at 138 billion. During the minister's time in the government, this sum has increased by 37 percent, and it continues to increase by 50 million every day.
Mr. Speaker! We do not need more mapping or investigations. We need action so that these children can have a home in accordance with Swedish law. The Enforcement Authority has a mandate to cooperate with social services. But it is voluntary, and we know that it often happens too late or not at all.
Therefore, I ask the Minister: Will the government make this cooperation mandatory, especially in cases where children are involved? What complementary measures does the Minister intend to take to ensure that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is complied with when children are threatened with eviction?
It is not acceptable that children in Sweden in 2025 are being evicted due to poverty. It is a moral failure, a political betrayal, and a crime against the future. In the future, we will be judged, not for doing too little, but for knowing and still choosing not to act. I hope that action is taken, and I hope the Council of State agrees with me when I say that the situation is urgent. Even if the parents are poor, the children have done nothing; they are merely victims. Therefore, we have a responsibility to ensure that they receive a secure upbringing and a secure home.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! Once again, thanks to the member for a commitment that I can assure the member I share! We must work intensively together for society's most vulnerable children. As the member surely knows, I have a many-year background in the chamber and the Social Affairs Committee and have, among others with Vänsterpartiet, worked with a number of different proposals that strengthen the situation of vulnerable children. It is important to find solutions in different ways that are long-term sustainable.
To first go back to the member's question linked to the Swedish Enforcement Authority: Since 2022, the authority has had a mandate to work towards establishing a prevention of eviction cooperation between social services and landlords in all municipalities. This therefore applies not just in some municipalities but in all municipalities. This work has been particularly focused on preventing evictions involving children. This agency mandate is fixed and clearly covers work towards 290 municipalities in Sweden today.
Furthermore, Socialstyrelsen and Boverket have been tasked, during 2024–2026, to develop a methodological support so that the social services can develop the social perspective in community planning with a focus on homelessness. Socialstyrelsen has also been tasked to develop such support for the social services based on the broader direction in the bill on a new Social Services Act that I have just mentioned.
In October 2024, we gave the National Board of Health and Welfare the assignment that we have described. It is correct that the final report is due on May 31, 2027, but we will receive an important first partial report on December 2 of this year. I naturally look forward to discussing the result we receive in December in various ways.
What we know is that the absolute best way to strengthen a child's situation is for the child to see their parents go to a job every day. Therefore, the government's work to increase support so that one can get a job or an education to be able to enter employment are important incentives.
We know what can happen when unemployment, and the hopelessness that often accompanies it, risks being passed down as an inheritance. The work principle is therefore a major part of being able to support people in moving from benefits to self-sufficiency so that they can stand on their own feet and also gain the freedom and the room for maneuver that those stuck in a dependency on benefits do not have. It will also be an incredibly important part of turning the situation around for the vulnerable children.
Malcolm Momodou Jallow (V)
Mr. Speaker! Let me begin with the work line, as it is spoken of. Today, over 600,000 people are unemployed. As the Minister may know, I am the chairman of the Committee on Civil Affairs and work with housing. Over 2,000 housing companies have gone bankrupt.
People are not unemployed because they want to be unemployed. They are not poor because they want to be poor. It is the government's policy that has caused people to lose their jobs, just as the pandemic led to many losing their jobs. It is not about welfare dependency, but about a policy where decisions are made that result in people today not having a job to go to, which affects household finances, creates poverty, and so on.
When families with children end up in a situation that is partly caused by policy or by political decisions, the best thing cannot be to remove the support that exists to help them when they have ended up in such a situation. To say that they are not allowed to be dependent on benefits but must work is not fair. So one cannot think.
It is about people, such as everyone who works in the construction industry and who have worked and built this society. I have met many construction workers who have worked their entire lives but who today do not have a job to go to. They have families who may need support from the state, but then the state says: It is not the best way to fix this, instead you must go and work. If you have a policy that creates jobs, people will go and work.
When it comes to cooperation, I think it is important. Just as the Minister says, there is a system, but the system does not work because it is not mandatory but voluntary. In some municipalities it works, but in some municipalities it does not work. Why is it not mandatory? Then cooperation could occur every time a child is at risk of being evicted. Then one can be there to help and pick up the children. I think that is important, and it is also in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is law in Sweden.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you very much, Malcolm Momodou Jallow, for the interpellation, which concerns a subject that is important and urgent for both of us.
Today there is a mandate that covers every municipality. The Enforcement Authority is therefore obliged to have a mandate linked to every single municipality when it comes to the risk of eviction or repossession. In that sense, it is not a voluntary matter, but the mandate covers every single municipality.
Passivity is probably the last word I would associate with this government's policy. The inflation that we inherited and had to take over at the change of power has been in focus for the government's work, because we know that it is those who have it toughest who are hit hardest when economic conditions become tougher. There, inflation has been one of our strongest enemies, but we have been able to defeat it. Therefore, there are conditions to get the wheels turning again. There, for example, the job tax credit for low- and middle-income earners is an important part to get the wheels moving and increase growth.
In conclusion, I want to say that for me it is absolutely important that one can receive grants when life hits hard and it becomes extra tough. There is no blame in this, but the most important focus for me is that one does not get stuck in grant dependency. We see that it is when one gets stuck in grant dependency that all other negative parameters also kick in.
Let us therefore continue to work together so that people can become self-sufficient, for by doing so we best support and help our vulnerable children.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.