When the Armed Forces grows to its breaking point, housing shortages cause it in several places. There is a lack of housing for personnel in, among other places, Kiruna and Gothenburg, and the worst is on Gotland, where soldiers have had to live in tents and cars for certain periods.
Hedda Fiedler was newly recruited to the Gotland regiment as a medic this summer, but it took her months to find permanent accommodation and then only because she could move in with a colleague.
– It’s something that affects you in everyday life, I think about it every day and try to find accommodation all the time, she says.
“A factor that severely limits our ability to grow”
A newly formed foundation will now try to find apartments for the defense, but the uphill is steep and there is great concern that it will affect the growth of the defense.
– This does not facilitate our ability to keep our soldiers, and it is extremely important that we get to keep them. It is a factor that severely limits our opportunity to grow personally, says Magnus Frykvall, regiment commander P18.
The assessment is that up to 100 new tenancies are needed for defense personnel on Gotland in the coming years.
In the player above: Watch the full feature on the defense housing crisis.