Homelessness in Sweden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Homelessness in Sweden affects around 27,000 people.[1]
The Swedish government's response to homelessness has included commissioning national surveys on homelessness during the last decade that allow for direct comparison between Sweden, Denmark and Norway.[2] The three countries have very similar definitions of homelessness, with minor variations.[3]
Some researchers maintain that measures to counteract homelessness in Sweden are largely dependent on a general premise equating homelessness with addiction, mental illness and deviance.[4] On the other hand, youth homelessness is considered a child protection problem.[5]
Surveys
The National Board of Health and Welfare (Swedish: Socialstyrelsen) has released a survey of homelessness every six years since 2011. They cover 4 groups of homeless people in Sweden:
- Acute homelessness
- Lives in emergency housing, hostel, protected shelter or similar. Also includes living outside, in garages/stairwells/cellars/public places/attics/tents/cars or similar.
- Institution or assisted living, to leave within 3 months
- People that are currently in housing for people with disabilities, compulsory care, youth care, foster care or imprisoned, but who has to leave within 3 months without any housing solution prepared.
- Long-term living arrangements organised by the Social Services
- Housing solutions with a contract for housing combined with supervision, special rules and limited house ownership rights (Swedish: besittningsrätt).
- Private short-term living arrangement
- Lives non-voluntarily, temporary and without a contract among friends or acquaintances and with family or relatives.
Street newspapers
There are several street newspapers in Sweden. Situation Sthlm,[8] was founded in 1995 and was Sweden's only street newspaper until Faktum and Aluma were founded early in the 2000s.[9]
In 2006 the three street newspapers were awarded the grand prize of the Swedish Publicists' Association (Publicistklubben).[8][10]
In 2013, a Swedish tech company created software for the homeless newspaper vendors to accept credit card payments via a mobile app.[11]
In art
In 2015, a Swedish art exhibition at Malmö Konsthall titled “The Alien Within: A Living Laboratory of Western Society” included two homeless people from Romania. The homeless people were not accepting money from visitors but were paid at hourly rate by the event organizers.[12]
Health
Researchers have found that excess mortality among homeless men and women in Stockholm is entirely related to alcohol and drug abuse.[13]
Some researchers have conducted studies on the oral health of homeless people in Sweden and found that they have fewer remaining teeth than the general population.[14]
