Student Hanna Canholm: "I queued for 5 years for a short-term contract"

During the week, Uppsala City's student unions compile what the housing situation looks like for all students in Uppsala this year. This compilation is reported on Wednesday for Sweden's unified student union, which examines the housing situation in the country's student cities.

It is difficult to find a home in Uppsala. This is according to Johannes Bäck, who works with the twenty-five other corps.

- It's still very tough, the housing situation. The average queue time for a student residence is three and a half years, which is longer than the many courses the students attend. So it shouldn't be, he says.

The situation has looked similar in recent years.

- The largest housing companies have reduced from four years of queuing time to three and a half years in recent years, but it is still serious.

Hanna Canholm studies at Uppsala University. She has been in the housing queue for about five years.

- It is a short-term contract, for the apartment to be renovated. So yet I do not have a very safe accommodation.

Johannes Bäck says that there are around 10,000 student housing. This means that there are around 20 to 30,000 who need to find accommodation in other ways, and that they may need to resolve the situation provisionally by staying with friends or acquaintances for short periods, in emergency accommodation or hostels.

Despite the current housing situation, a slight brightening can be seen, thanks to the new housing being built.

750 homes are already being built, and about as many are planned. If everything that is being prepared is also completed, Uppsala will receive 1,350 new homes in the coming years.

- It's doing very well now. A lot is being built in the municipality and the nations have also started building student housing on Studentvägen and at the May clock. That's really good.

When do you think this situation has resolved?

- We believe that there will be a clear improvement in the next two to four years when the new housing is ready.

Johannes Bäck says that the situation looks even worse for the international students.

- For the international students, who are not covered by the university's housing guarantee, it is even worse. Usually they don't know anyone here, they don't know how the housing market works. Some people think that universities have housing for everyone, but they have not. They have to give extra help so that they find accommodation and do not have to move back home.

He himself would like to see more student corridors built.

- They are cheaper to rent and it will be a better financial situation for the students, so I hope you think about it.