In the courtyard of an apartment building on Hisingen, about ten people stand with coffee cups in their hands. All of them are properly dressed up, ready to stand outside in the cold for quite a while.
In the middle of the group is 26-year-old Mathilda Franzén. It is on her initiative that the neighbors meet here this Sunday.
After moving from Skåne to Gothenburg, she didn't know anyone in her new house. Then she decided to invite all the neighbors in the stairwell for coffee. It quickly gained interest and now she has invited the entire farm in the apartment building on Hisingen.
"We have such a nice community in my stairwell, so I sent out notes and wrote in our group and here we are now," says Mathilda Franzén.
"Good to get to know each other a bit"
It is the first time that many of the neighbors have talked to each other at all, but the atmosphere is good. One of those who joined the farm is Robert Berlin who lives in the same stairwell as Mathilda.
"Everything is so very anonymous between the neighbours, so it can be good to get to know each other a little bit," says Robert Berlin.
More activity among tenant associations
The Tenants' Association for Western Sweden has also noticed that there has been more activity in the local associations in 2022, which may possibly be due to the pandemic restrictions being released. About 10–15 percent of the elderly population experiences involuntary loneliness, according to a report from the National Board of Health and Welfare.
"I think it's really nice to know exactly who I live on the stairs with," says Mathilda Franzén.
Wants to counteract loneliness
Involuntary loneliness is a problem that the government has also addressed. In this year's budget, SEK 300 million is allocated, which is intended as a planned community initiative where the same amount will be allocated annually for three years.
At the same time, civil efforts and a compassionate perspective are considered extra important in the work to break the loneliness in Sweden. Therefore, two Riksdag politicians praise Mathilda Franzén's initiative. Hear more about it in the clip below.
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Start the clip to hear two MPs hail Mathilda's initiative. Photo: SVT