Yesterday, SFS released its annual housing report. The results show an even more fragmented housing market for students. Both the green list and the red list grew this year. We also show that three-quarters of Sweden's campus students are in red-listed cities. This means that a majority of Sweden's students face an insecure housing situation when they start.
As a happy coincidence, the government also held a press conference regarding housing construction yesterday. During the press conference, Housing Minister Peter Eriksson, Minister for Higher Education, Research and Space Helene Hellmark Knutsson and Kerstin Lindberg Göransson, CEO of Akademiska Hus, presented concrete initiatives. This time, the initiatives were based on Akademiska Hus's assignment from 2015 to build and manage student housing.
Considering the housing situation presented in this year's housing report, it is gratifying to hear that Akademiska hus will enable the construction of 18000 homes over the next four years. Of these, 11,000 are student homes and 6,400 are being built by Akademiska hus itself. A further 10,000 homes are then planned for the years 2021-2026. Although some construction projects have been previously known, an overall picture of the homes that Akademiska hus will enable is now being presented.
Akademiska Hus's impact on the higher education sector is both tangible and debated. Since 2013, Akademiska Hus has been tasked with conducting its operations on commercial grounds and generating market-based returns. A task that many see as contributing to the continued erosion of the resources of higher education institutions. This raises concerns that a task to build student housing places a market focus ahead of the best interests of students. During the press conference, we asked SFS about how it handles the fact that students are a heterogeneous group with very different needs. Akademiska Hus responded in a way that conveyed a sense of understanding that different types of housing need to be built. They also seem to take into account that rents must be kept low to be reasonable for students.
Our hope is that Akademiska hus will take its responsibility and build housing based on students' circumstances. Akademiska hus has good conditions to build housing at reasonable rents that are accessible to a heterogeneous student group. Land prices are one of many reasons why rents are currently high in many places. Our hope is that Akademiska hus can contribute its current land to other actors in a way that makes the rents reasonable based on the students' situation.
However, the long-term solution cannot be for new student housing to be financed with the profits that Akademiska hus receives when it rents to universities. Funding for higher education is already depleted, and building student housing with the help of profits from the sector risks putting students' conditions for studying at odds with the academy's conditions for delivering high-quality education. The housing situation for students is unsustainable. The underfunding of higher education is unsustainable. The problems need to be solved, not pitted against each other.
Finally, it is important to point out that the housing shortage for students is a national problem. Our report shows that the housing shortage is not limited to a certain type of city but affects all types of cities. Akademiska hus is present as an actor in only 16 of Sweden's university cities, which means that investments must also be made in other cities.
Maybe there is a little light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to student housing? We are cautiously hopeful, but we are convinced that the situation requires many more efforts like today's.
Picture from the press conference.