The Salvation Army is under high pressure and the Food Mission, which sells cheap food to people with low incomes, has opened several new stores and has even had to say no to new members in some cities.
Many of the customers at the Food Mission and the guests of the Salvation Army are on subsistence allowance.
- We constantly have an increased number of help-seekers who come here.
They are desperate and hungry and have no food at home.
They have difficulty getting enough money, it has become much tougher, says Göran Larsson, who is a care consultant at the Salvation Army.
The subsistence allowance (formerly known as social assistance) is the welfare society's ultimate safety net and must go to those who have no other income or assets.
But a year of high inflation has made it difficult to get enough money.
- They are completely in despair.
They already had difficulty getting enough money before.
The supply support should be enough for the absolute necessities, but with inflation and price increases, the money is not enough for that, says Göran Larsson.
Just over SEK 4,000 for food and clothes
The subsistence allowance consists partly of a "national standard" which must cover costs for, among other things, food, shoes and clothing, and partly of "reasonable costs outside the national standard" which must cover, among other things, housing and electricity.
The national norm is calculated based on how many adults and children live together.
For a single adult without children, the national standard for the year 2022 is SEK 4,250 per month.
Over the past five years, the number of people with income support has decreased year by year.
At the same time, more and more livelihood support has a longer duration – the number of months that people receive livelihood support has increased year by year since 2016.
At the turn of the year, the level of subsistence allowance is raised by a whopping 8.6 percent due to high inflation.