Thousands of students are now receiving their admission decisions for the autumn studies. But even before applying, every fourth student is opting out of an education due to the difficulty of finding accommodation in the area.
The problem is widespread across the country, not just in major cities and in Uppsala and Lund, says Rasmus Lindstedt, chairman of SFS.
There is a shortage of student housing in Sweden, and at the same time, the prospects in the forecast for how many will be built in the coming years are decreasing.
In total, 14 municipalities are planning for nearly 2,600 student housing units in 2024 and 2025, according to a survey from the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning. Just a year earlier, it was expected that 5,300 new student housing units would start being built in 2023 and 2024 in the country.
The housing shortage is an obstacle to the freedom of choice that we think should be self-evident for students, says Rasmus Lindstedt, chairman of the Swedish Federation of Student Unions, SFS.
The costs of building housing have skyrocketed. Building affordable rental apartments for students then gives lower profit margins for construction companies.
Calling for Government Measures
In a debate article in Aftonbladet, Rasmus Lindstedt and Hyresgästföreningens vice chairman Ola Palmgren are calling for measures from the government.
We want to see that an investment support is secured for companies that build affordable student housing, says Rasmus Lindstedt.
Besides reintroducing investment support, they want to reform the housing allowance so that it is tested on a monthly basis instead of on annual income.
The housing allowance is underutilized by students, partly because they risk having to repay it and partly because the system is too blunt, says Rasmus Lindstedt.
Every year, SFS publishes its own housing report, where they divide several student cities into three categories: green, yellow, and red, depending on how quickly students are offered a secure accommodation. In 2023, 10 out of 34 cities received a red mark, which means it takes longer than a term to get accommodation.
Linköping Passes the Test
Among the green cities, where students are offered accommodation within a month, is Linköping, one of Sweden's largest student cities.
I think there are several reasons, but there has been an ambition for several years to be an attractive study location and build away the housing queue. Both for student housing and regular housing, says Ulf Gustafsson, acting CEO of the municipal company Studentbostäder in Linköping.
As in several other cities, they reserve a large proportion of corridor rooms for newly admitted students.
Construction prices have increased dramatically, but we still think we can make the calculations work when we build new and have mostly avoided vacancies, says Gustafsson.
