The tenants' association wrote 2023-05-21 in Svenska Dagbladet about the now abolished state investment support. Their conclusion is that the investment support worked as intended. The Swedish National Union of Students shares that picture. At the same time, the investment support has been politically polarizing. We believe that we need to move away from the discussion about whether or not investment support is necessary, and instead come up with actual solutions that will last over time. Investment support or not – there are several ways to stimulate housing construction.
The student movement is screaming hoarsely: For students, the housing market situation is acute. According to the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning's survey, there is a housing shortage in all major study locations. One consequence of this is that every third student chooses not to study due to a housing shortage, according to a report produced by the Youth Barometer on behalf of the Student Housing Companies. It is also clear that the housing shortage exacerbates a social recruitment bias, when one in four students with poorer financial circumstances has chosen not to study at a university due to the housing shortage. Of young adults who live at home, 84 percent were involuntarily living at home in 2021, according to the Swedish Tenants' Association.
At the same time, the need for student housing is expected to increase, as a result of the new adjustment study support, more people studying during the recession, and larger future cohorts. The spades should have been in the ground a long time ago. On the contrary, new construction has come to a standstill, something that has been reported on several occasions during the past year. According to the Swedish Construction Companies, the loss in construction investments risks weighing on the national economy even more.
Sweden stands out internationally with a total absence of housing policy for rented accommodation. For student housing construction, Sweden is the only Nordic country that lacks construction subsidies or support. The state investment support led to more housing for students and also kept rents down. We could see this in the SFS housing report from 2022, where we specifically asked student unions and municipal housing companies about the consequences of the abolition of investment support with the answer that fewer homes were built. Concrete and more long-term answers to the housing shortage are needed that can also help students here and now. We do not want to close the doors to other forms of support and incentives, and therefore want to present proposals to address the decline in housing construction:
- Introduce government credit guarantees for investment loans for new construction. Government credit guarantees mean that the government bears part of the risk for the loan, and they already exist for loans to electricity producers. The Finance Committee assessed that the guarantee activity would be self-financed over time. A similar design for housing construction could facilitate the financial calculation for construction companies and thereby stimulate the resumption of projects that are now paused or closed.
- Financial support for the renovation of existing premises. The rules and support for the conversion of existing premises need to be expanded to enable creative solutions for existing property stocks. It is also a prerequisite for a sustainable housing policy to make use of the materials and foundations that already exist in existing properties.
- Design a new government support for new construction of student housing based on the existing model of support for housing for the elderly. This support is designed to stimulate the construction of housing designed to meet needs, while keeping rents low for a group with limited incomes. Students already spend a higher proportion of their income on rent than other groups. Government support for new construction should be designed for students in the same way as for the elderly.