Swedish welfare state and housing markets: under economic and political pressure

Why housing wealth and welfare?

“…'Bricks and mortar' subsidies were replaced by demand (and increasingly means-tested) subsidies, with private landlords housing an increasing number of lowincome households on housing allowances. Similar transfers of statemarket responsibilities were later adopted in other Western European economies, such as Sweden (for example, Turner and Whitehead, 2002;Holmqvist and Magnusson Turner, 2014) and the Netherlands (for example, Priemus and Dieleman, 2002;Elsinga et al, 2008), as the logic of marketization began to take hold. Housing was a particularly vulnerable element of social policy and, unlike most other social services, markets remained influential to the provision and allocation of housing, with policies often correcting rather than replacing the market in ensuring broader access to decent and affordable housing (Bengtsson, 2001(Bengtsson, , 2012.…”

For the Benefit of Everyone? : Explaining the Significance of Swedish Public Housing for Urban Housing Inequality

“…Alongside such a de-politization of housing, a number of academic studies have discussed the marketization and neo-liberalization of Swedish housing. Holmqvist and Turner Magnusson (2013) explain how Swedish housing is under political and economic pressure. The European mainstream market-orientation 'has pushed neoliberalism further ' (2013, p. 242).…”

“…Nevertheless, during the past few decades, Swedish public housing has been put under pressure. Housing policy reforms in the 1990s and 2000s have made public housing more business-oriented, as beneficial state loans were abolished after a shift in national political majority in 1991 (Holmqvist and Turner Magnusson 2013;. Despite market adaptation, complaints from private 2 M. GRANDER operators have argued that MHCs are distorting the competition on the rental market, which have led to demands from the European Commission on Swedish public housing to adapt to EC regulation on competition.…”

“…While other European countries with previous universal models have made a "selective turn" Priemus and Gruis 2011;Scanlon, Whitehead, and Arrigoitia 2014), Swedish public housing, constituted by municipal housing companies (MHCs), are still obliged to provide "good housing for all". However, public housing in Sweden is since the 1990s experiencing a potentially dramatic shift in terms of market adaption Holmqvist and Turner Magnusson 2013). Since 2011, new legislation has prompted MHCs to compete on the same terms as private rental companies on a level playing field, which involves what the legislation states as "market demand for return on investment".…”

Ongelijk woonvermogen: hoe de stimulering van het eigenwoningbezit uitpakt in Nederland, Duitsland en Zweden

“…Tussen 1970 en 2012 zijn de reële woningprijzen bijna verdubbeld(Christophers 2013). Opvallend genoeg heeft Zweden door een sterk tekort aan woningen en urbanisatie, geen sterke prijsdaling meegemaakt sinds de economische crisis van 2007 (zie figuur 2)(Holmqvist en Turner 2014). De meer marktgerichte benadering van de overheid in de bouwproductie en het toegenomen speculatieve gedrag onder de bevolking hebben geleid tot gepolariseerde steden(Baeten 2012;Hedin et al 2012).…”