Housing Report 2023

At the end of August every year, the Swedish Students' Union (SFS) publishes a report on the housing situation for Swedish students. This blog post will summarize this year's report, focusing on overall conclusions and the section on Uppsala.

In the SFS housing report, 34 study locations are ranked according to how quickly a new student can expect to find a safe place to live during the fall semester. Uppsala Student Union participates every year in the work of producing data and perspectives for the housing report's section on Uppsala.

SFS's criteria for secure housing are that the student must rent in the first place, within 30 minutes of campus and have a monthly rent that does not exceed 30 percent of the study grant (approx. 3600 SEK per month). In addition, access to the housing must take place within 30 days of registration - or in connection with the start of the semester. Such housing must be available to anyone studying at least 15 credits during a semester.

Places where all new students can expect to find safe accommodation within a month of the start of the semester are ranked green. Places where students can count on safe accommodation sometime during the fall are ranked yellow. Red rankings are given to places where new students cannot count on finding safe housing during the fall semester. Since the housing report began to be published in 2009, Uppsala has been ranked as red - with the exception of the pandemic year 2021 - and so also this year.

The statement from the Uppsala student unions included in the housing report describes a difficult situation on the Uppsala housing market. The availability of rental housing is low regardless of whether you are a student or not, which means that newly graduated students choose to stay in their student apartments longer than legal. In turn, non-students staying in their student apartments reduces the already poor availability of safe student housing for new students. To address the problem of non-students living in student housing, several student housing companies in Uppsala have introduced new strict control systems.

As in previous years, both student unions and players in the student housing market are concerned that students are refraining from studying in Uppsala because of the housing shortage. Although new student housing has been completed in recent years, the influx of students has increased at the same rate, which means that the shortage persists. 

Even more student accommodation can be expected in the future, but these risk being too expensive - with rents well above 30% of students' disposable income. It is not reasonable for students to spend almost half of their income on housing - especially when our economy is already hard hit by last year's rising cost of living.

When SFS summarizes the housing situation for Sweden's students, it is precisely this cost crisis that is at the center. Both rents and prices are increasing for students, while the increase in the study grant is lagging behind. As we have discussed in previous blog posts, the adjustment of the study grant does not compensate for actual inflation - which does not even include rent increases.

In the housing report, the SFS therefore presents three measures to reverse the trend and start building more student housing again. The first proposal is to introduce an investment subsidy for student housing. Such support would both stimulate construction and enable lower rents. The second proposal is to develop a student-friendly housing allowance. The current housing allowance is both too low and inaccessible to students - with the associated risk of being liable for repayment if you make a mistake. 

The third proposal is to introduce stricter control systems so that student housing is allocated to those who actually study. As mentioned, such systems have already started to be introduced in Uppsala. However, SFS notes that such systems are only a temporary solution and do not provide more student housing in the long term.

The housing report was highlighted shortly after publication in a feature on SVT Uppsala. In the feature, Uppsala Student Union's chairman Anton Sánchez Sulejmani participated to emphasize the need to build more affordable student housing in Uppsala. Linnea Rydén, Vice President of the Student Union, also recently participated in a dialog meeting with the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning to raise the students' voice on the issue of accessibility, adaptation and quality of student housing.

Uppsala Student Union will continue its work on student housing as long as Uppsala remains a red-listed city. Students who come to Uppsala should be able to count on secure housing when they start studying. Nor should they have to go around worrying about not knowing how long they can stay in their sublet apartment. Students must be able to focus on their studies and should not have to take on extra jobs to cover their rent.

More updates to come on our work to push for a better housing market for Uppsala students. Follow our social media channels to keep up to date on this work. Are you not a member and want to support our work? Then of course you should become a member! 

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