Anna Granath Hansson

Collaborative housing is an umbrella term for housing that is based on collectivity and self-organisation. In recent years, this form of housing has again been highlighted as an opportunity to create affordable and socially inclusive residential areas. However, collaborative housing is also recognised for its organisational complexity and legal uncertainty, particularly during the start-up phase. Research suggests that these issues may result in it being primarily accessible to the middle class, that is, people who generally already have access to the housing market. In some contexts, such as Sweden, there are discussions on its potential contribution to broader housing market problems and the hurdles that need to be overcome to make it more easily accessible. This study takes Swedish collaborative housing initiatives as its point of departure. It examines international research to identify what is considered crucial for collaborative housing to function as an affordable and socially inclusive housing option, and maps gaps in Swedish policy and research that may hinder broader access. The analysis is based on a two-step integrated literature review, combining Swedish policy documents and national literature with a systematic review of international research on legal frameworks, potential future residents, and cooperation with key partners. The findings indicate that collaborative housing has the potential to develop into an affordable and socially inclusive housing option for a broader segment of the population. However, realising this potential requires addressing underexplored legal challenges, reducing institutional, economic, temporal, and organisational barriers, establishing supportive relationships with public and private actors, and critically engaging with tensions related to social heterogeneity and inclusivity.

Based on a long tradition of municipal land purchases, today 70–80 percent of housing development in Stockholm takes place on land allocated by the city. To densify the urban core, several larger developments are being realised on brownfield land. Norra Djurgårdsstaden is one of the most attractive development areas and ambitions regarding environmental sustainability and design are high. The Stockholm municipal plan states that affordable housing and social mix are important public goals. Land policy is mentioned as one of the main instruments to realise these goals. Simultaneously, Swedish housing policy emphasises ‘good housing for all’ and does not prioritise lower income households. Affordable housing is defined as rental housing irrespective of rent level. Recently, critic has arisen that Norra Djurgårdsstaden is only accessible to higher income households in contrast to city policy goals. This chapter attempts to explain incentives of the city to avoid fulfilling its own policy goals, linking this paradox to planning and land policy on the one hand and housing and fiscal policy on the other hand, showing how varied public interests are difficult to balance. Several other Swedish municipalities face the same difficulties in using land policy to meet affordable housing and social mix goals.

This paper aims to elucidate the sliding scale between usufruct and ownership by applying a property rights framework to three Swedish forms of tenure in multifamily housing. The framework deconstructs the bundles of rights of rental, tenant-ownership and ownership to highlight commonalities and differences connected to the right to use and exclude, the right to transfer and the right to the value. It is concluded that the three tenure forms have many traits in common but that there are distinct differences in some areas, most notably in connection to the right to the value. The property rights framework applied in the study may be applicable also on a general level as a method to analyze and compare tenures of different types in different countries. Further, ways to improve the framework and cover more facets of outcomes of property rights patterns are suggested.

Homelessness has increased substantially in Sweden in the last decade with an emphasis on structural homelessness. Further, municipalities have the responsibility to house a certain number of newly-arrived immigrants under the Settlement Act. Many municipalities have had difficulties in meeting the acute housing need, as well as its costs, and have started to look at new types of housing solutions. Socially innovative initiatives of the civil society and private developers have been encouraged. This paper investigates three civil society and private housing developments and how they might contribute to socially and economically sustainable housing solutions for households in or on the verge to homelessness. In order to operationalize the sustainability concept related to these local projects, an analytical set of questions have been developed based on the literature and project data. It is concluded that all three projects are socially and economically sustainable at the outset, but that certain traits of the project set-ups make them more uncertain in the longer run. The sustainability lens was fruitful in analyzing the projects, but non-physical factors will in many cases be person dependent and therefore difficult to generalize. As it is expected that this new type of housing in the Swedish setting will increase in numbers, the analytical set of questions should be tested in relation to further projects and be developed further.

The term social housing has been characterized as a “floating signifier”, i.e. a term with no agreed-upon meaning. The lack of a definition often leads to misunderstandings, rather than constructive dialogue on the advantages and disadvantages of such a system. The aim of this article is to contribute to clarity by providing a discussion on the potential defining criteria of social housing and suggesting a definition of the concept. Definitions of the term social housing and descriptions of European social housing systems used in the last eight years will be presented and discussed. Five potential defining criteria derived from the literature are evaluated as to their sufficiency and necessity for a definition.

The housing shortage has become a major political concern in Sweden and Germany. To ease tension on housing markets, both the Swedish and German c

Affordable housing has emerged as a key concept in housing policy in a wide range of countries. Berlin, Hamburg, Stockholm, and Gothenburg are all experiencing population growth and changing demographics; housing construction has lagged demand, leading to housing shortage and to increased housing costs. This article provides a detailed case study on institutional prerequisites and political strategies to increase affordable housing supply. The four cities focus on traditional housing policy tools: organisation, urban planning, land allocation, and subsidies. Affordable housing is promoted through targeted tools as well as policies aiming at increased housing supply elasticity. The German cities have come further than their Swedish peers in creating an active housing policy as they have clearer goals supported by influential politicians, and use more tools. A tentative explanation of the difference between the German and Swedish cities explored in this paper is that politicians in Berlin and Hamburg have greater incentives to promote housing construction because of the structure of their cities’ housing markets.