Infant joins queue for senior flat in Stockholm

Published: 20 Mar 12 12:04 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/39782/20120320/

It has become increasingly common for Swedes to secure old age accommodation early in life, but the addition of a one-year-old infant the queue for one of Stockholm's more popular assisted living facilities queues has taken the trend to new levels.

'Sweden next in line for housing market crash' (17 May 13)
Young Swedes forced to live with mum and dad (15 May 13)
Sweden 'second best' place to become a mum (7 May 13)

”We have a grandmother living with us who is very happy and she has placed both her children and her grandchildren in the queue,” said Christel Jansson, spokesperson for the Blomsterfonden senior apartments to the tenant’s association’s Hem & Hyra journal.

The Blomsterfonden non-profit organization owns some 1,000 apartments to let in the Stockholm area and the number of people queuing to become senior tenants has recently grown to over 21,000.

The growth is partly due to a rise in interest but also that it is becoming more common for those in their thirties and forties to put their names down in order to secure the future old-age accommodation of their choice.

The record for the youngest person to put their name down was recently broken, however, when the satisfied grandmother made sure her grandchild, born in 2011, joined the queue.

Overall, the majority of those queuing, some 70 percent, are women, according to the paper.

“They want someone to look after them,” said Jansson to the journal, adding that the women see sorting out their senior accommodation as a guarantee if they are left on their own.

The organization is planning to try to meet the increased demand by extending their services and building more apartments.

According to the journal, the Blomsterfonden organization has some 28,000 members of which 21,000 are in the queue. This is an increase by 16,000 members over the last decade.

The average current waiting time for an Blomsterfonden apartment is between 10 and 20 years.

The Local/rm
twitter.com/thelocalsweden

(news@thelocal.se)

What do you think? Leave your comment below.

Your comments about this article:

The comments below have not been moderated in advance and are not produced by The Local unless clearly stated. Readers are responsible for the content of their own comments. Comments that breach our terms and conditions will be removed.

19:18 March 20, 2012 by fikatid

Just like queuing for an apartment, many parents have entered their baby in the apartment queue when the kids were born.

The system is messed up. That's why we have a big shortage in housing availability in the city for anyone who were not born in Sweden.

Report abuse »

22:32 March 20, 2012 by Grokh

i been on a line to rent any apartment in the area i live in for over 2 years now.

pisses me off some people already have apartment but keep reapplying until they get a better one so at the end its just a cycle of people hopping around and whoever is outside gets screwed and cant rent.

	Property of the Week Published: 14 May 13 Photos by www.fastighetsbyran.se
	Property of the Week - Lidingö Published: 7 May 13 Photos by www.fastighetsbyran.se
	Property of the Week - Höganäs Published: 30 Apr 13 Photos by www.fastighetsbyran.se
	Property of the Week Published: 24 Apr 13 Photos by www.fastighetsbyran.se
	Property of the Week Published: 16 Apr 13