Authorities in Norrtälje are asking homeowners to give their houses up for newly arrived migrants after around 30 marched to protest their accommodation.
In a targeted mailshot residents were asked: “Does your country house stand empty in winter?” Some houses in the Stockholm municipality are only occupied during the summer and so authorities hope to match migrants up with housing.
The drive by officials to get their hands on more migrant accommodation comes days after migrants in Norrtälje protested their living conditions.
The area’s director of social services, Ali Rashidi, told Svenska Dagbladet: “We thought that there are certainly many houses and rooms that can be rented out for the winter. We like many other municipalities have housing needs”.
Mr. Rashidi explained that householders would let houses to the migrants themselves, with ordinary rental contracts. He assured the Swedish newspaper that the municipality would step in, if necessary, to make sure rent is paid in full.
“Most of the people are well-behaved. Besides, refugees get establishment support from the Employment Service, so should have enough to pay the rent,” Mr. Rashidi said.
Asked about homeowners’ fears that migrants with “social problems” could misuse their properties, Mr. Rashidi said officials will act to match up appropriate landlords and tenants.
On Friday, migrants protested against the newly built modular housing in which they live. Around 30 of them marched to Norrtälje’s social services department, almost half of those who have moved in.
Mitt i reported one of the protesters as saying: “We had a meeting the day before and decided that we do not want to continue living under these conditions.”
According to the department, those marching felt “misled” over the accommodation as they had expected to be given their own permanent apartments rather than sharing a kitchen with other migrants.
The migrants’ representatives warned that disappointment over housing issues had led some of the men protesting to experience depression and even suicidal thoughts.
Sweden’s generous asylum and migration policies have led to chronic housing shortages over the decade. The nation of under 10 million people admitted over 160,000 non-EU migrants last year, exacerbating the problem.Swedish public housing organisation SABO reports that almost half a million new homes must be built in the country just to meet demand.
Breitbart London reported in July that Sweden needs to build nearly half a million new homes in the next five years just to cope with surging demand from migrants. The increase is equivalent to the nation of just 9.5 million people building a whole new capital city Stockholm by 2020.
Last week, a Syrian academic based in Germany revealed that many migrants expect taxpayers in Europe to give them luxury lifestyles. Professor Bassam Tibi warned that dissatisfaction at not being given nice apartments and cars is a driver of sexual assaults by Arab migrants in Europe, such as in the case of the Cologne attacks.
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