According to Statistics Sweden (Statistics Sweden), one in ten foreign-born must be without home insurance in Sweden. The recent big fires at the eight-storey houses on Koppargården and Silvergården in Landskrona, have hit around eight uninsured families extra hard.
- Some of the families are newly arrived in Sweden and have probably not received enough information or understood how the Swedish system works, says Carina Jording, Deputy Head of Administration for Individual and Family at the social service in Landskrona.
"We were shaky"Ignorance and lack of language are the reason why the married couple Majida Faour and Ryas Faour are now sleeping on a mattress on a friend's living room floor, following the fire on Koppargården which left them without a home.
- We cannot know the language and how the Swedish system works. When we signed the contract for the apartment, we thought it included home insurance, says Ryas Faour.
Majida's husband was asleep when she got a call from a friend who told her it was burning in the wind.
- I woke him up and we went out. We were completely ruined and shaky. Everything remained, but we were given medicine, passports and important documents, says Majida Faour.
Many of the uninsured families have been offered emergency housing, but Carina Jording believes that social services are not an alternative to home insurance.
- When you see how incredibly vulnerable people become in the event of a fire, there are good reasons to consider whether it would be mandatory to have home insurance, says Carina Jording.
What could have changed your situation today?
- It may be that it is our fault, but it can also be that the landlord bears the responsibility, that they did not remind us. It would have been good if the landlord had had an agreement with the insurance companies, so that home insurance had been included. Or if you had been offered an offer of what insurance is available, it would have been a protection for man, Majida Faour.