Viveca Settergren doesn’t think the rent increase is really wise, she says to the Tenants Association’s member newspaper.
– I don’t know what to say.
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SEK 14,049 in pension
She earns SEK 14,049 in pension and SEK 2,023 in housing allowance. In order to make ends meet, she works as a foot care specialist at the elderly people’s home in the municipality for an hour or so a month. But it will still be lean for the 78-year-old tenant.
Namely, she has to pay the rent for her 63 square meter home in Färgelanda.
Rent: SEK 5,423 a month
Now the cold rent is increased to SEK 5,423. Already it is over a third of her income. When the tax and the landlord have taken their place, there is not much left.
And then the electricity and the car must be paid after that. The windows are cold in the apartment and she spends every penny in the grocery store.
She makes food boxes and freezes them, she tells Home & Rent.
Two rent increases – in the same year
This year, she will receive a rent increase of 3.2 percent from February. That’s already quite a high increase if you compare it to a “normal year”. But 2024 is no ordinary year. Interest rates are high and inflation has skyrocketed in building materials and service costs, the landlords think.
And then there will be another rent increase already on July 1 of another 3.2 percent.
Therefore, Valbohem’s tenants are the ones who received the highest rent supplements in all of Sweden.
Inflation hits households hard
Even the food box has become more expensive for Swedish households, and it has become increasingly difficult to get enough money.
It has News24 written about before.
There will be no trips
Viveca Settergren loves to travel, and usually puts aside some money every month to be able to go on vacation.
But after the rent increases, there will be no trips.
– It is the greenery of life. But now I can’t travel anymore. I’ll see if I can afford to keep the car.
Miserable already
The times of the year when taxes and insurance must be paid, she barely has it.
– Those months are already miserable, she says to Hem & Hyra.
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