On August 1, Eskilstuna became the first in Sweden to introduce a requirement that those who beg for money in the city need a permit issued by the police.

The police have issued a permit that is valid for three months and these cost SEK 250 each time you apply. But Eskilstuna municipal councilor Jimmy Jansson (S) wants you to have to apply for a new permit for every day you beg.

Financial incentive

-The fee has the effect that it damages the financial incentive to beg. It costs 250 SEK to sit there, and you get 70 SEK a day, it is a pure loss business. Then especially those who want to help someone begging must ask how they can instead make sure that the money they want to give actually reaches the person, with the difference that the person does not have to pray on their bare knees, says Jimmy Jansson.

The goal is for the begging to disappear completely from Eskilstuna. Nonetheless, Jimmy Jansson believes that a permit requirement is better than a ban.

-We can only have a ban on municipal land, so we will never be able to impose a ban on the entire geographical area of ​​Eskilstuna. A ban would not change anything in Eskilstuna, it would only be a relocation. Then the permit requirement is a better way to go, he says.

More municipalities

The permit requirement has been criticized, including by the City Mission in Eskilstuna, which believes that the new rules have increased the beggars' vulnerability.

Several municipalities in Sweden have opened to introduce similar solutions, and begging is already in place in several parts of the country. The first to introduce a local begging ban was Vellinge in Skåne. Since then, bans have been voted on in, among others, Sölvesborg and Katrineholm.

In several other municipalities there is a majority to impose restrictions or prohibitions on begging, including in Täby and Danderyd outside Stockholm.