Updated 10.18 | Published 10.08
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Kestutis Jokubauskas has no permanent residence. “My salary is not enough for a rent of SEK 10,000 for months,” he says.
1 / 2Photo: Petra Hedbom/TT
Most of the time, Kestutis Jokubauskas sleeps in shelters, but sometimes it’s the car. Own accommodation feels distant.
– I actually don’t know how it will work out, he says.
Just over 27,000 people over the age of 18 are homeless in Sweden, according to a new survey carried out by the National Board of Health and Welfare.
People come to Ny Gemenskap in Västberga in Stockholm to get lunch, clothes or hygiene items and someone to talk to. Many of them have experience of homelessness.
Kestutis Jokubauskas has no permanent job and it is basically impossible for him to get a lease. The salary from his temporary construction and handyman jobs is not enough.
– A significantly higher salary is required to pay an apartment rent. I actually don’t know how it will work out, he says.
The cold winter has been tough. Sometimes he sleeps in the car. The fear of being robbed is great. He is particularly afraid of his insulin syringes, which he is addicted to.
Dorde is 48 years old and has been homeless for about five years. He hasn’t worked in nine months and it’s hard to look for a job when you don’t have a fixed point. He tries to find places to sleep, often it becomes a shelter.
– It’s warm and you can wash yourself. But you sleep in a room with five, six people in each, people run in and out, it’s not a good sleep. I am constantly worried about being robbed.