Response to interpellations 2024/25:489 and 490 on the housing shortage in the Stockholm region and its consequences for the labor market
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD argues that a well-functioning housing market is a fundamental prerequisite for competitiveness and growth 1. KD believes that the government is addressing structural obstacles through regulatory simplifications for building permits and student housing 1 2, advocates for rent-to-own 3 and emphasizes that infrastructure and housing are interconnected 3. KD also highlights that the government is taking measures to increase employment 4. S considers the government's measures to be too small, late, and ineffective. S argues that the housing shortage stifles growth 5 and advocates for state credits, start-up loans, and apprenticeship requirements 6. S believes that the government's funds for Arbetsförmedlingen are primarily about control 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)
Madam Speaker! Serkan Köse has asked me how I and the government intend to ensure that the housing shortage in the Stockholm region does not hinder labor market mobility, recruitment, and growth. Serkan Köse has also asked the Minister for Employment and Integration what measures he intends to take to ensure that the housing shortage does not continue to hinder labor market mobility and companies' opportunities to recruit in the Stockholm region. The work within the government is so distributed that it is I who am to answer the latter interpellation. I choose to answer both interpellations in one context.
Stockholm's business sector is a growth engine that is important for all of Sweden. A well-functioning housing market with access to housing in varying forms of tenure is a fundamental prerequisite for people's security and quality of life and for a competitive economy and growth. More people should be able to realize their housing dreams, and people should be able to move where jobs are. More housing needs to be built across the entire country. Improving the conditions for housing construction is an urgent issue for the government.
External factors such as high inflation and increased interest rates have, in recent years, severely worsened the conditions for housing construction. The construction rate has dropped drastically. Increased production and financing costs have pressured housing construction. At the same time, households' purchasing power worsened, and housing prices fell. Now, however, we see that households' view of their own finances has improved, and inflation has clearly fallen back. At the same time, the situation remains tough for many households.
The Government has focused its work on addressing the structural obstacles that characterize the construction and housing market so that Sweden will be better equipped and enable increased housing construction.
Cumbersome regulations are factors that hinder housing construction, and the government is taking a number of measures to remedy the problem. The government has recently decided on the bill Relief in building requirements for student housing as well as the Council of Legislation referral A new regulatory framework for building permits.
Boverket's calculations of a number of case types for student housing show that the regulatory reliefs can provide cost reductions of between 30,000 and 46,000 kronor per housing unit. In the question of a new regulatory framework for building permits, it is proposed that an increased number of measures may be taken without a building permit. According to previous estimates, this could result in the number of permit cases decreasing by as much as 30–40 percent.
On 1 July 2025, Boverket's new building regulations will enter into force. The rules will be fewer and designed as functional requirements. Boverket's assessment is that their new building regulations can, in the long run, lead to innovation and technical development, with faster and more cost-effective construction as a result. Before the entry into force, Boverket will produce a guidance and carry out educational initiatives regarding the application of the Planning and Building Act to ensure that the regulatory simplifications have an effect in the municipalities.
Following the government's proposal in the bill Measures for a better housing supply (prop. 2024/25:42), the municipal guidelines for housing supply will be replaced by an action plan for housing supply, in order to create better conditions for coordinating municipal housing supply measures and the planning for housing construction.
In the wake of the pandemic, the proportion of vacant premises has increased. Following the government's proposal in the budget bill for 2024, funds were allocated for a planning stimulus to encourage municipalities to adopt detailed plans that enable more housing through conversion from premises to housing. Recently, the government also decided to increase the support level. Furthermore, the government has tasked Boverket with proposing relaxations in the building requirements in the Planning and Building Act during conversion and renovation.
Furthermore, the government has tasked an investigator to review the rules regarding rental apartments in order to facilitate private rentals and the rental of company housing. Finally, the government intends to submit a bill during 2025 regarding an improved model for presumptive rent.
The Government is closely following the developments within the construction and housing sector and does not rule out that further measures may be needed.
Madam Speaker! Like during the previous interpellation debate, I would like to return to what was presented at this morning's press conference in my next contribution.
Serkan Köse (S)
Madam Speaker! We have now debated labor market policy and housing policy, especially housing policy, for a few hours. I would really like to thank the Minister for the opportunity to have a serious discussion about the situation within housing policy but also the opportunity to talk a bit about labor market policy. I would have gladly seen Mats Persson also in the chamber and taking the discussion on labor market policy. But, again, thanks to the Minister for being here and taking this debate!
Madam Speaker! A home is more than just four walls and a roof. It is the foundation for a functioning life and a functioning society. Without a home, no work; without work, no home; and without both, no security – it is a vicious circle that hits directly at people but also at the economy of the society.
The Minister says that the government is following the developments and is taking measures to improve housing construction. I welcome that. But as the crisis looks within the construction sector, it is not quite enough to follow the developments.
The measures that the government has presented and those that are presented today are good. But they are too small, they are too late and they are too ineffective. If we look at how things look today, we see that housing construction has collapsed.
Stockholms Handelskammare warns that the housing shortage is already harming the recruitment of labor. That is what this interpellation is about. Construction decreased by over 50 percent during 2023 and 2024, according to Boverket. The County Administrative Board in Stockholm states that housing construction is far below the need, and according to Stockholms Handelskammare, 20,000 jobs in the construction sector and 8,000 jobs in the service sector are threatened during 2025.
Again: I welcome that the government is following the developments. But the construction sector has crashed, and the jobs have disappeared.
We previously debated the skills gap that will occur within the industry. It is worrying, and as said, it will damage both the economy and the labor market.
It is not only we Social Democrats who are critical. In my previous debates with Minister for Employment Mats Persson, I have repeatedly asked why the government does not do more to stop, for example, the growing long-term unemployment and why there are no concrete reforms to get more people into work.
The Swedish National Audit Office has warned that the cuts in active labor market policies, which have been ongoing since 2019, hit hard those who are furthest from the labor market.
The National Institute of Economic Research points out at the same time that Sweden is doing too little to meet the matching problems that we have in the Swedish labor market today.
Despite the fact that we have the highest unemployment in 25 years and over half a million people without work, the government presented 60 million today to Arbetsförmedlingen to increase control – 60 million! At the same time, they have cut back on active measures but also on the administrative budget for Arbetsförmedlingen.
The question I must ask the Minister when we discuss housing policy in relation to labor market policy is how we are to handle what is happening, not least in Stockholm. Stockholm is losing competitiveness, and companies are finding it difficult to recruit.
Does the government have any plan for how to handle housing policy in relation to labor market policy? They must be able to be discussed together. Is there a plan? Is there an idea from the government's side on how one can handle the recruitment needs and the high unemployment, not least in Stockholm? As the Minister himself mentioned, Stockholm is the growth engine for all of Sweden.
Leif Nysmed (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
However, I miss the focus that the Stockholm region actually deserves in both of these issues. As we all agree, Stockholm is the growth engine in Sweden.
To achieve this with housing that people can move into to be able to take the jobs that exist from the recruitment problem, there are very few initiatives to produce housing that normal income earners can demand. A nurse or a police officer cannot buy a home in Stockholm today. They do not have the possibility to demand it; several reports have shown this. Ask childcare workers, for example! It is a utopia for them.
What was needed then? The state perhaps needs to take responsibility. The Government has already previously discussed which measures were needed.
Now, one mentions the Norrlandsfonden. It is to receive 300 million this year. One could allocate funds from it to the rest of the country, but I do not believe that Stockholm can take that entire sum. It would look very strange.
But there are actually alternatives. We have presented budgets with other investments precisely so that we can be able to bring down the costs for housing construction. I just want to contrast that against the 300 million that the Minister will soon be talking about.
We have proposed state credits of 5.12 billion annually with exactly the same purpose as the Norrland Fund – to be able to keep down the costs of construction.
We have state construction stimulus of 3 billion for student housing and for labor market regions that have large industrial investments.
We have also proposed starter loans – a proposal that I know our parties have agreed on but which has been put in the drawer – to enable first-time buyers to enter the owner-occupied housing market.
The government is now presenting a proposal for rot for small houses. It can help a little and stimulate the labor market somewhat; I believe. We would have wished that it had been done earlier – we have proposed it earlier this year – and directed it towards energy and climate measures so that we also reduce climate problems and such. It is smart to do that, because it is to kill two birds with one stone.
We also need to invest in the renovation of multi-family housing. There, we have proposed a perhaps somewhat low amount, I can personally think, but I am working to ensure that the amount will somehow become higher. It also needs to be done, and it is also an important labor market policy measure.
But when the state takes responsibility and steps in to do something, or when the public sector carries out procurements, it is important that requirements are also set so that there is order and clarity in the Swedish labor market and so that we counteract the unemployment that exists in Sweden here and now. Some of those requirements I have highlighted previously.
It is among other things apprenticeship requirements so that those apprentices who leave, for example, the construction program have the opportunity to get into work. Of those who left the construction program here in the Stockholm region last year, 10 percent received employment – 10 percent! It is alarming. That was a year ago. We will have to see how it looks this year. I am not sure that it will get better.
There are also requirements for professional competence so that those who have now been laid off – such as my colleague, who has worked for 24 years in a large construction company – might get the chance to come back.
There are requirements for own personnel and on limiting the number of subcontractors, requirements for collective agreements and, not least, requirements for control that these requirements are complied with.
This is important for reducing unemployment and being able to produce housing that people can actually afford to demand, so I hope the Minister has good answers to provide – apart from the 300 million, which I think is somewhat low.
ANDRE VICE TALMANNEN
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Stockholm's business sector is a growth engine that is important for all of Sweden. We agree on that. There are several different issues in the air in this discussion, and it illustrates how broad the discussion surrounding competitiveness, growth, and mobility is. It is about housing construction, which is the very foundation of the issue, but it is also about accessibility and what we were touching upon in the previous debate regarding infrastructure. These are, of course, connected.
It is also about financing and the credit restrictions that exist. There are proposals being prepared in the Government Offices concerning both the mortgage ceiling and the amortization requirement. These also need to be seen, of course, in light of what effect they have on housing construction.
Speaking of Leif Nysmed raising the issue of getting a foothold in the owned housing market, the government has a proposal that has been under investigation and has been referred. It concerns rent-to-buy. It is a very successful model in, for example, Norway. There, one can, so to speak, buy half of the apartment and then successively pay off the other half. It would, in one step, halve the requirement for a down payment, while simultaneously successively paying off to oneself. It is a step to get a foothold in the housing market that I believe can be particularly relevant in growth regions and in the Stockholm area.
When it comes to mobility and other parts, I also want to take up in this context that the government has appointed a negotiating person for the parts in the Stockholm negotiations and in the Sweden negotiations that concern Stockholm – which have cost increases. We see there a need to be able to move forward. We also see the assignment regarding the road and public transport tunnel Eastern Connection, which is intended to link the region's northern and southern parts east of Slussen. In the existing agreements, there are also housing commitments.
I believe we agree that infrastructure and housing are linked, and I look forward to these projects also being able to gain momentum now that the government has appointed the former State Secretary Mattias Landgren as the negotiator. This assignment shall be reported by June 30, 2025, at the latest.
I say it, Madam Speaker, to illustrate that it is an important decision that the government has made concerning precisely Stockholm's competitiveness and also mobility, the possibility of recruitment and growth.
Regarding the housing parts, I have touched upon a few things, and I have raised this in my response as well. What we have communicated today is perhaps above all the increase of the rotavdrag in combination with the regulatory simplifications being made regarding building permits. This can in some cases be a way to be able to establish an additional dwelling in the residence and utilize the existing stock.
Today, it is already possible to rent out, for example, an attefallshus, but the possibility of incorporating a dwelling into the residence is now being expanded. This is also successful in, for example, Norway, where the existing stock is utilized even more actively. At the very least, one could provide shelter to a few more in a good residence in a pleasant area, while the household budget can be strengthened. That possibility is provided with the extensive relaxations in the building permit requirements and with the increase of the rotavdrag that comes into force from today and which begins to apply from May 12. I thank you for the discussion so far.
Serkan Köse (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
Stockholm has one of Europe's most dysfunctional housing markets. We have a construction rate that has fallen by over 50 percent, and Boverket warns of the worst housing crisis since the 1990s.
I believe that one must address the problem. This crisis is deep, and it requires several broad measures. It also requires more resources.
This debate is about both the housing market and the labor market. This region is a growth engine and a growth region, and here is Sweden's capital. Today, it is difficult to recruit for very many socially important occupations because people cannot afford to live here in the capital. Very many households are stuck in insecure second-hand contracts.
It is good that the Minister is lowering the construction costs for student housing, but it will have a marginal effect on the housing market. At the same time, they have removed, among other things, the investment support. Not because we want to get stuck in it, but this was something that led to the construction of rental apartments decreasing.
Changing building regulations for student housing is good, but it is like putting a bandage on a broken leg. It will not lead to more housing being built or to more people gaining access to a home. What the government has done is, unfortunately, to leave the housing supply entirely to the market. The municipalities have been left alone in this discussion.
Today, the consequence of the government not acting is that many people are forced to turn down jobs in Stockholm because they have nowhere to live. Bus drivers have to commute from Eskilstuna or Enköping to afford the rent. We also have a welfare system that has very difficulty recruiting childcare workers, nurses, and police officers because these people have nowhere to live near their work.
It therefore leads to very many effects and consequences when we have a crisis on the housing market and a housing shortage that also stifles Sweden's growth. This applies not least in this region.
At the same time, we have high unemployment – the highest unemployment in 25 years. More than half a million people are unemployed, and very many people in this region are unemployed. We would have wished that the government could have presented concrete measures, reforms, and investments to get more people into work.
Unfortunately, only 60 million has been presented to Arbetsförmedlingen. In its budget proposal to the government, the agency had demanded at least half a billion kronor to be able to fulfill its mission. This is important. If we are to get more people into work, it is important that the agency has the right conditions and the right resources and can do a good job.
The budget basis to the government also shows that there is uncertainty about whether they will be able to fulfill their mandate. This is due to the fact that very many are unemployed and that Arbetsförmedlingen has been forced to lay people off. One also has fewer resources for labor market policy interventions.
I say it again: 60 million for Arbetsförmedlingen is good, but it is far from the need that exists today on the Swedish labor market. This applies in particular in this region, where we have a very divided labor market and a matching problem.
The question to the Minister is how we will manage the housing supply in this city and how we will ensure that people in this city can both get a job and a home once they have obtained a job.
Leif Nysmed (S)
Madam Speaker! The Minister often returns to the proposals for relaxations in the building requirements, among others for student housing, and to the referral to the Council of State regarding a new regulatory framework for building permits. He believes that costs will decrease as a result of that.
We have not debated these yet, but we will do so. You may correct me if I am wrong now, but it is a 7 percent cost reduction with the deteriorations one makes to the student housing if this is implemented? It will therefore result in worsened accessibility for people with disabilities, who will not be able to manage to settle in all apartments.
But a 7 percent reduction does not mean that it will become cheaper for the person who is to rent, because there are no guarantees that this ultimately goes to them. The risk is that one puts the money in one's own pocket.
Naturally, there are serious companies that might do it, but there are also a lot of fortune seekers in the construction industry who will see the opportunities for it as well.
There must be better ways to lower costs and increase people's opportunities to demand a home than to make the housing worse. We have a proposal for an investment grant for student housing. The student housing companies and student associations proposed this in Almedalen a couple of years ago, and we have adopted it. It must surely be better to maintain high quality in the housing that is built, so that it lasts for the future.
A new regulatory framework for building permits might make it a bit faster to obtain a building permit. In the referral to the Council of Legislation, however, it is highlighted that the risk of things being wrong from the start will increase, which will increase the costs for the individual who has made the mistake when it comes to having it rectified in a supervisory matter. They push the entire risk onto the individual who performs these parts.
I also oppose us being tenants of one another in the future. Dare to build new! A construction worker puts three others to work. It is smart.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! The proposal for relaxations in the building permit requirements aims at ensuring that we do not live as lodgers with one another, but that one can instead establish a dwelling within the dwelling. It is about increasing flexibility, utilizing the existing stock better, and being able to fairly quickly take measures that can increase the number of dwellings within the framework of the existing stock, where infrastructure and perhaps public transport and pleasant garden cities have been built up, but perhaps the existing stock is not fully utilized. Many perhaps today dream of being able to live there, but the bar is very high for very many.
The individual can decide that they want to stay in an area even long after the children have moved out. Perhaps another family can fit in there. That one can make changes to the residence in a simple way while the rotavdrag is increased is a way to save some jobs and increase people's flexibility and freedom and at the same time – in a way – meet the housing shortage. I am not saying that this is the only way, Madam Speaker, but I mention a number of different measures that the government is taking.
I note that Leif Nysmed has views on one of these measures, namely the relaxations of the accessibility requirements in student housing. Just as I said, a number of typical cases from Boverket's calculations indicate that the cost reductions could amount to between 30,000 and 46,000 kronor per housing unit. There are other indications in the referrals where others have raised their perspectives. Some of the serious housing actors say that one could get out 15–20 percent more student apartments per floor. This would be a major change and would mean significantly increased flexibility. It could involve moving the wall at the bathroom a few decimeters as a result of accessibility requirements not applying in all apartments.
In the proposal, we have set it at 20 percent, which is the requirement for accessibility that Norway has. It is fully sufficient to accommodate those who have a need for an accessibility-adapted bathroom with a toilet. We also have requirements that there must be visitor accessibility and an accessibility-adapted toilet in the house that can be used if one has visitors.
This is a very well-balanced change, which, according to those who build and manage student housing, could lead to 15–20 percent more student housing. The calculation would be better balanced, and it is reasonable that it leads to being able to lower the rent. I do not want to anticipate this, however.
Much is about providing opportunities for flexibility and innovation. One might want a different floor plan. This will be decided neither by a Member of Parliament nor by a Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, but we are changing the requirements precisely to encourage flexibility and increased profitability in building student housing and so that Sweden shall continue to be a knowledge nation. This is particularly important in growth areas such as the Stockholm region, which was discussed earlier in this debate.
So much is happening, Madam Speaker. I wanted to comment on these parts. We are pushing forward and making simplifications and improvements also regarding the structural barriers that have affected housing construction for a long time and which are noticeable in a situation with high inflation and a recession. We have had such a situation, and it has affected housing construction in a very negative way.
Serkan Köse (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
I mentioned earlier that 20,000 jobs in the construction industry are threatened next year in this region. One cannot recruit for socially important professions such as childcare workers, police, and nurses because people simply have nowhere to live in this region. One of three young Stockholmers is considering leaving the region.
Madam Speaker! The housing market is a ticking bomb, and this affects the entire society. We see it in the business sector, in welfare, in the labor market, and in people's everyday lives. Again: the housing market is not an isolated issue, but it is directly linked to Sweden's growth and employment and to the future of welfare. Therefore, I have asked how the Minister and the Government intend to act regarding the relationship between the housing market and the labor market and regarding ensuring that Stockholm continues to be a growth region, that employment increases, that Sweden's welfare is strengthened, and that the future prospects are improved.
What the government has presented in the form of 60 million kronor to Arbetsförmedlingen is primarily about control. They are strengthening the control mechanism with 60 million, but it is not about any active measures to help people into jobs or studies.
I must also emphasize that the unemployment benefit is being restructured and that the unemployment insurance is scaled down after 100 days. This will hit very many wage earners hard, not least when unemployment is as high as it is.
I want to ask the Minister when the government intends to realize that a functioning labor market requires a functioning housing market and that a functioning housing market requires a functioning labor market. There is a clear correlation between these two parts. Can the Minister say anything about how we should handle the mismatch and the recruitment problems in the Swedish labor market as well as the high unemployment?
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! The question concerns the housing shortage in the Stockholm region and its impact on the labor market. It is therefore I, as the Minister for Housing, who answers the interpellation, and my answer will primarily concern housing construction and functions in the housing market.
I have in my previous posts in the debate accounted for several measures. What we have presented today, in addition to the important reinforcement of the deduction for work, the reinforcement for housing construction, and the reinforcement of the initiative on road maintenance, are targeted labor market and education measures so that more people can get jobs. It is about more places at vocational upper secondary school and the university college, summer jobs for young people in municipalities with high unemployment, extra funds for the Public Employment Service, as the member pointed out, as well as an earlier planned salary increase.
If Serkan Köse wants to delve deeper into the appropriation to Arbetsförmedlingen, he can, of course, submit an interpellation on that theme, and it will then become a discussion here in the chamber. This discussion has been about the housing shortage and its impact on competitiveness in the Stockholm region. It has been important for me to highlight everything we do.
Something that is now being highlighted a lot at the EU level, and which we of course are working on in Sweden, is that regulatory simplification and reduced red tape is a fundamental prerequisite for competitiveness. That is why, in my answers, I have placed the emphasis on some of the measures we are taking in the massive regulatory simplification package in the housing area that we have already partially presented. Further parts will be released during the spring. This is an important part for all of Sweden and, of course, for the Stockholm region.
I have also spoken about infrastructure measures and investments. We have now appointed a negotiating person. I foresee that we will have a strong momentum in these projects, because much of what the member has highlighted is linked to a good and reliable infrastructure.
I thank you for the discussion in this and previous debates.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.