Lack of housing causes one in four to drop out of education

Thousands of students now receive their acceptance notice for the autumn studies.
But even before the application, every fourth student opts out of an education because of the difficulty of finding housing in the town.
– We predict that this could be a real disaster situationsays Rasmus Lindstedt, chairman of SFS.

There is a shortage of student housing in Sweden and at the same time the outlook for how many will be built in the coming years is decreasing.

A total of 14 municipalities are planning for just under 2,600 student housing in 2024 and 2025, according to a survey by the Housing Authority. Just a year earlier, it was expected that 5,300 new student housing would begin construction 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 Sweden’s united student unions, SFS.

“Disaster mode”

The costs of building housing have skyrocketed. Building cheap rental properties for students then results in lower profit margins for the construction companies.

– We predict that this could be a real disaster where there is a lack of student housing and no new ones are added, says Rasmus Lindstedt, chairman of SFS, in Nyhetsmorgon.

Rasmus Lindstedt and the Tenants Association’s vice chairman Ola Palmgren are calling for action from the government.

– We want to see that investment support is secured for the companies that build cheap student housing, says Rasmus Lindstedt.

Want to reform the housing allowance

In addition to reintroduced investment support, they want to reform the housing allowance so that it is tested on a monthly basis instead of on one’s annual income.

– The housing allowance is underutilized by students, partly because you risk being liable for repayment and partly because the system is too blunt, says Rasmus Lindstedt.

Every year, SFS produces its own housing report in which several student cities are divided into three categories: green, yellow and red, depending on how quickly students are offered safe accommodation. In 2023, 10 out of 34 cities were marked red, which means that it takes longer than a semester to get accommodation.