A new report claims that Swedish students and other individuals considered to be vulnerable have been sent to the back of the housing queue as properties have been prioritised for recently arrived migrants.
The information comes from the recently published county administrative boards’ progress report which shows that municipalities have given a clear housing priority for new migrants and asylum seekers, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reports.
Among those denied housing have been individuals who were seeking treatment for drug addiction or mental issues and may now have to remain in a treatment centre despite being able to live on their own.
The reason for the prioritisation is a law that allows the Swedish migration board to have a say in how many of the public housing projects are distributed.
“The consequence is that other people who need housing will be without it. We are not obliged to accommodate them,” said hed Carlsson, Head of Corporate Social Services in Hässleholm.
“For example, people have been left in treatment homes, institutions, and care institutions instead of having their own apartment,” he added.
The move will also burden the Swedish taxpayers as the average cost to house an individual or family in an apartment is around 5,000 Swedish Krona (£453) per month while it costs the public 3,000 Krona (£272) per day to house them in a treatment facility.
“In addition to the cost of taxpayers, it is unthinkable from an individual perspective if a person with earlier abuse problems, for example, is ready to move to their own home but can not,” Carlsson said.
In addition to the current housing problem, the Swedish government is looking to house a further 100,000 migrants next year which will likely increase the problem.
The move is not the first time the Swedish government has prioritised newly arrived migrants over vulnerable Swedes. Last year, the government evicted 16 groups who work with people with disabilities in order to transform the building into an accommodation for asylum seekers.
In 2015, the government was accused of going as far as evicting several residents from their homes to make way for new migrants.