It is the seventh consecutive year that Umeå is one of the places of study red listed in Sweden's unified student union, SFS, annual housing report. The reason is that it is difficult for new students to find a home. And the housing shortage is an important issue for both the municipality and Umeå student union.
- There has been a housing shortage and we have had to increase the pace of planning in building housing, says Janet Ågren (S) municipal council in Umeå.
“We want to be an attractive city”Since 2013, approximately 7,000 housing units have been completed in Umeå, of which 1,300 have been student housing. Nevertheless, it is still difficult for the students in Umeå to find accommodation in connection with the semester start and therefore the student union believes that it needs to be built even more.
- More housing needs to be built for students. Now, more has been built for students in several areas around campus, but that is not enough. The queue time has been reduced for a couple of months, but it is still 1.5 years to be guaranteed accommodation here, says Hanna Lundin Jernberg, president of the Umeå student union.
- We do not want people not to choose to move to our municipality because they find it difficult to find a home. We want to be an attractive city and we are really working to build more housing in general, and that will also affect student housing, ”says Janet Ågren (S), municipal council in Umeå.