The construction of public utility rents is about to stop, writes Karin Wanngård (S) in a press release. The Opposition Citizens' Council refers to the figures for the exploitation office, which shows that land directions for public utility have been halved between 2017 and 2018.

- The municipal housing companies are a powerful tool that the city must use to build more rental properties and strengthen public utility. Our young people must be able to move away from home and the companies must be able to recruit, she says in a press release.

In 2015, public utility received 2,558 land-approved housing. Three years later, the figure was 1,049, and so far this year the municipal housing companies have received land allocation to 455 housing units.

M: No sour cream for municipal housing companies

But Joakim Larsson (M), city building mayor in Stockholm city, dismisses the criticism and says that the most important thing is not which actor is building.

- If other actors have the opportunity to build rental properties, the municipality should not have a sour cream. There are those who even build cheaper than the municipal companies, he tells SVT News Stockholm.

Is there a risk that public utility will decrease?

- The Social Democrats have higher goals than we do when it comes to public utility stocks. For us, it is important that half of the rent and half of the tenancy are built.

Furthermore, Joakim Larsson (M) says he expects to reach 9,500 to 10,000 land instructions in the city by the end of the year.

Opposition: Conversions the wrong way to go

The Social Democrats in the City Hall believe that the governing bodies are instead opening up new transformations in the public interest.

- In this situation, as the Alliance and the Environment Party are doing, reducing the ambitions for the public benefit and instead opening up for new conversions and sales is completely the wrong way to go, says Karin Wanngård (S), opposition citizen council in a press release.