As 2,700 migrants face expiration on their “transition apartments” the Green Party in Gothenburg has demanded they be allowed to live in their residences permanently.
The Swedish Real Estate Agency has warned in a new report that migrants could become homeless as their four-year housing contracts expire in the next few years, leading the Greens to demand that they be given so-called “first-hand contracts” for permanent housing, Nyheter Idag reports.
Emmali Jansson is one of the Gothenburg Greens supportive of the idea and argued it would help new migrants integrate if they were able to live in the same area.
“We think people should be able to stay there. We believe it is good for those who live, but also for society at large, better for integration,” Jansson said.
“Here is someone who has lived here for four years, they have been able to create a network, with neighbours, school and friends. Then the big problem is that there is no housing for everyone in general,” Jansson added.
Elisabet Lann of the conservative-leaning Christian Democrats said that the apartments are needed for new incoming migrants but noted that exceptions could be made for families with children.
“A general extension I think will be very difficult because we do not have the housing in the city. Many people need housing,” she said.
Housing shortages have become a major issue across Sweden in recent years and Gothenburg is not the only city or municipality to prioritize or propose prioritizing migrants over native Swedes for housing.
A report released in June of this year by the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building, and Planning revealed that half of the local governments across the country gave migrants priority.
Sweden’s capital of Stockholm reached a new record for lack of housing last December with 636,000 people on the housing waiting list but just 85 properties available.