SFS, Sweden's united student unions' annual housing report, ranks the study places in Sweden according to the possibility of being able to get housing as a student.
Umeå has been red-listed for many years, which means that it has not been possible to guarantee students housing for the first semester.
For the year 2020, however, Umeå has received a long-awaited upgrade and can now count among the study places in Sweden that are marked in yellow.
- We are incredibly happy that it is going in the right direction, says Anton Öhrlund, chairman of the Umeå Student Union.
He continues:
- But we need to continue to monitor the price picture here in the housing market in Umeå. Requesting a student to pay more than half of their income in rent, plus study materials and literature, will be tough if you are to manage your finances.
See more from the interview with Anton Öhrlund in the clip above.
This year's report - a strange story
There is not one place of study in this year's report that has lost in ranking, and many have gone from red to yellow and even green.
But it is not easy to explain why, because many of the cities have different conditions.
The number of training places has increased sharply, at the same time as many higher education institutions will continue with distance education during the autumn. In some cities, distance education and fewer international students reduce the pressure on existing housing. But in other cities, the growing number of new students needs somewhere to live.
All in all, this still makes it easier for many students to find housing before the autumn, even though there is concern about what will happen if the higher education institutions return to campus teaching later in the year.
“The housing situation for Sweden's students is characterized by uncertainty, a mixture of silence and great mobility. The situation is, in summary, strange ", write Simon Edström and Linn Svärd, chairman and vice chairman of SFS, in the report's foreword.