This week, SFS participated in StudBO22, a conference and meeting place for the student housing industry. This year, StudBO was arranged by Studentbostadsföretagen and SGS studentbostäder in Gothenburg. The participants were mostly representatives from the country's student housing companies, many of whom we recognized from the interviews for our housing report. But students were also represented on site.
The theme of this year's conference was sustainability. The UN's global goals define sustainability with the familiar words:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Sustainability is particularly relevant in relation to housing construction. According to the UN, 39% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions come from the construction sector. At the same time, we know that the student housing shortage is widespread and that we need to build more housing. The key question is how do we build more and at the same time reduce our climate impact?
During the conference, we got to delve into the issue by listening to, among other things, the housing companies' own sustainability work and a research project on new variants of collective student housing. A personal favorite was architect Gert Wingårdh's presentation on wood as an economical, durable and sustainable building material.
In the breaks between speakers, the conversations continued. Here, the socio-economic situation was a recurring topic. Students are getting less and less financial margins as a result of inflation – the need for reasonable rent levels for student housing is, if possible, even more important now. At the same time, building prices are increasing and housing construction is slowing down. We heard several examples of how the previous government investment support has helped to keep rents down.
On Friday we went on a study visit and looked at several newly built student housing units. It's great that new buildings have been built and that old buildings (for example a blacksmith shop!) have been converted into student housing. During one of the visits we also had time to talk a little with the students themselves.
However, it is clear that rents are way too high in most of the newly built student housing. One student apartment we visited was a one-room apartment of 25 square meters, for which a student has to pay 5,235 SEK per month. Students should not have to spend nearly half of their study funds on rent.
We must meet today's needs without jeopardizing tomorrow. Students have a great need for housing. At the same time, students have a crucial role in the climate transition. Student housing and sustainability are interconnected in several ways. These challenges require political action.