It is welcome that the tenants ‘ association is self-critical about his role in Swedish housing policy. Several of the points as the conjunction for the front are worth to discuss, for example, a tax reform and more efficient planprocesser.
But the ”Stockholmshyra” as highlighted in the article is far from the same as market rent. The Swedish union of tenants thereby present no solution to the problems caused by the large difference between the bruksvärdeshyror and market rents in attractive locations:
• Bostadsköer: In a functioning market, there are apartments at various rent levels to get, without queuing. It is no pipe dream, but a reality in many parts of Europe. No one is advocating that the market rents are introduced over a night. But if rents in the long term, is allowed to rise, so will the many to leave the attractive rental units that are larger than what they really need, which are rented out in the other hand, used as apartments and so on, and these thus become available for other tenants. It is also considerably more attractive to build new, when the new buildings are no longer competing with the existing attractive apartments with artificially low rent.
• Crime: the current system leads to the black and the criminals who conveys svartkontrakt, there are reports even from the smaller towns. A minor adjustment of rents based on lägesfaktorn will hardly make any major difference, it takes more marknadslika rentals.
• the Unfair distribution: Today’s system of queues which can be many years means that those who have been long in the queue, and thus often have pretty good incomes, the most attractive apartments. The best established among the tenants thus serves the most. A system of market rents would hardly result in poor distribution. We want to get a better mixture should municipalities encourage mixed construction and concluding contracts with the landlords about to let a percentage of the apartments in each area go to the especially needy, with priority in the queue, it will be much more accurate than the current system.
• Expensive One of the reasons that there are few cheap rental flats is that the landlords are renovating them in order to thus be able to raise rents considerably within the current system. With market rents would landlords do not have the same incentives to renovate expensive, because it would go to charge a little higher rent, which gives profitability a little worn down apartment.
• Resistance to the settlers: In today’s system is affected, the existing tenants are not of the cues to attractive apartments. If rents instead followed the supply and demand of the tenants, however, earn that it is built much so that rents are kept down. They would therefore set themselves on the same side as those who lack housing, and become a counterforce against the other for various reasons, argue against the buildings.
The step that the association is now taken in the tank needs to be followed by more, to be able to be a positive party of a change is needed and that is now actually seems to be politically possible.
the Swedish union of tenants are in their reasoning carefully on the way in the right direction. But we want to solve the problems above, a major reform for more marknadslika rentals. Of course, such a reform need to transition times, limits on unfair rent increases, etc.
the industrial building need to be facilitated by municipalities are prevented from setting särkrav (already illegal, but the local authorities ignore it and will receive no penalty) and by the municipalities coordinate their requirements on the design, so that the builders can manage to build in most places with a limited number of products.
Waiting times for building permits and lawsuits need to be pressed down. Through the wise planning of infrastructure, public workplaces with more attractiveness between the neighborhoods to be leveled somewhat. All in all, it is possible to do a lot to prevent that rents are soaring after a reform.
But the truly significant impact on the problems enumerated above may, by the rents mostly are based on what the market can bear, in the entire stock. The Swedish union of tenants may have an important role to play in the reform and to defend to the tenants even after a reform. The step that the association is now taken in the tank needs to be followed by more, to be able to be a positive party of a change is needed and that is now actually seems to be politically possible.
