Swedish Youth Face Housing Shortage as Migrants Given Priority

A survey from the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building, and Planning has shown that while young people are struggling to find homes, half of the local governments give new migrants priority.

The survey, which saw data gathered from 290 Swedish municipalities, highlighted the fact that young Swedes are having an increasingly difficult time finding housing with 230 saying they had a shortage for young people, Nyheter Idag reports.

Fewer municipalities, 221, said they had a shortage of housing for new migrants, and 135 said they had given preference to new migrants for housing, compared to just 12 who said they had given young people priority for homes in their areas.

The National Board of Housing, Building, and Planning wrote that the figures were “alarmingly high, and they show a very strained situation for young people in the housing market”.

One municipality defended the move to prioritise new migrants, saying, “It would be desirable for the newly arrived to get leases first, so that they don’t have to move around” and claiming that it would also aid in integration.

“The housing shortage can lead to the municipalities not being able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by an increased number of new arrivals. As most of the new arrivals are of working age, this can mean opportunities for growth and development, for example for municipalities with an ageing population. The lack of housing can lead to these opportunities being lost,” they added.

Sweden has been plagued with housing shortages in recent years, with the capital of Stockholm seeing a record 636,000 people on the housing queue and only 85 vacant properties in December last year.

Mass migration has played a role in the housing shortage, with Sweden seeing a surge in population growth due to migration. In 2016, the country saw the second-highest growth in population in the European Union due to migration.

In 2016, less than a year after the height of the migrant crisis, Swedish authorities attempted to ask wealthy homeowners to give up their country homes to help house new arrivals. In November of the same year, 16 disability associations were evicted to make way for migrants.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com