The report by Swedish student association SFS took a closer look at student housing in 33 university towns across Sweden, and found that 18 of them could be given a “green” label.
“Green” means that students will generally be offered safe and reasonably priced accommodation within a month. In the year before the pandemic, the figure was nine.
SFS warns that the effect may only be temporary. The pandemic has led to both fewer international students in Sweden as well as fewer new students in general moving to their new university town because so much of the teaching has been done online in the past year.
Last year, 15 towns were classified as “green”. Four towns have improved their rating compared to last year’s report: Borås, Eskilstuna, Kristianstad and Uppsala.
But only one fifth of students in Sweden live in a “green” university town, with the housing shortage particularly bad in cities such as Stockholm, Gothenburg and Lund.
The report also points out that rents have been going up, with one third of students paying more than 5,000 kronor a month.
Green university towns: Borlänge, Borås, Eskilstuna, Falun, Gävle, Jönköping, Kalmar, Karlshamn, Karlstad, Kristianstad, Norrköping, Piteå, Skellefteå, Sundsvall, Trollhättan, Västerås, Örnsköldsvik and Östersund.
Yellow: Helsingborg, Karlskrona, Linköping, Luleå, Malmö, Umeå, Uppsala, Växjö and Örebro.
Red: Gothenburg, Halmstad, Lund, Skövde, Stockholm and Visby.
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