Presentation Malin Ostling, Gothenburg City, Sweden, at a FEANTSA seminar on "Funding strategies: Building the case for homelessness", hosted by the Committee of the Regions, June 2012

1. Budget, responsibility
and tools for the
work with
homelessness
in Gothenburg

2. Target the budget to specific
types of actions and specific
target groups
• The City Authority is responsible for housing provision
• Grey area problems
• Opportunities to exert an influence
- Planning authority
- Role as landowner
- City authority housing companies
• Homelessness is also a reflection of the housing market,
demography and construction
• Households with debts and a poor credit record
• Newly arrived refugees

3. Target the budget to specific
types of actions and specific
target groups
National Board of Health
and Welfare survey
Gothenburg: 3,302 persons
Situation Number
1 Acute housing need 717
2 Institution/category housing 644
3 Secondary housing market 1,143
4 Own arrangement, short-term 539
Number of homeless persons per 10,000 of the population
Gothenburg 64
Stockholm 48
Malmö 80
Sweden 36

4. Tools – national
• The government has appointed a co-
ordinator for the homeless who will
follow up and exert pressure in the
work being done by the city
authority to deal with homelessness
– and not just as a matter for social
services

5. Tools – national
• Social Services Act – the City Authority or the
City District is responsible for ensuring that
people have a reasonable standard of living
• There should be a “roof over your head”
guarantee
• The National Board of Health and Welfare
publishes guidelines and general
recommendations in social and healthcare
matters and this is also the case with regard
to homelessness

6. Budgets for housing
solutions
• Boinvent: An inventory of households which, for social
and/or medical reasons, do not have a home which the
social worker considers to be the best at the present
time and where assistance from the social services is
needed in order to resolve the housing situation
• BoListan
Bolistan is a tool produced to enable a social worker to quickly
locate available apartments/rooms within the City Authority’s
own housing stock and among contracted organisations and
companies
• Placement Office
A service within the Emergency Social Services that helps
social workers to find suitable places, either owned by the city
authority or contracted

7. Budgets for housing solutions
According to Boinvent 01-2012
Socialsekreterarnas förslag till
boendelösningar för 1 157 hushåll
Vård
Ordinarie bostadsmarknad
Social Resursförvaltning
Gruppbostäder
Boendelösning utreds
0 100 200 300 400 500 600

8. Boplats
Grey area
Referral to the Property Management
Administration – municipal contract
Municipal housing
Management,
City control Procured housing
Administration Non-procured housing
Local solutions in the city district
F 100
Housing under the Support and Service for
Persons with Certain Functional Impairments Act
Housing for the elderly
* Placement Office

9. Range of residential places/apartments
Akut-missbruk
181
Akut-drogfritt
63
Långsiktigt boende
509
Kommunala kontrakt
838
Träning/referens
305
SDF "egna" lgh
220
Framtiden frivillig
org. 102
Upphandlade
1000
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Källa: Social resursförvaltning, Fastighetskontoret och
AB Framtiden

10. Bistånd till boende IFO -SDN Göteborg, nettokostnad 2007-2011, tkr
Källa:SDNbok
500 000
45 880
450 000 39 283
46 114
400 000 54 301
52 743
350 000
300 000
250 000 unga- 20år (I411)
426 131 vuxna 21-år (I211)
411 615
393 103
200 000 367 996
354 875
150 000
100 000
50 000
0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

11. Facts about work being
done in the city to deal
with homelessness
• Property owners provide around 300 apartments
each year to those who for social/medical reasons
are having difficulty finding a home. The Property
Management Administration sub-lets these “city
authority contracts”. Following a successful trial
period, the tenants are given their own contract
(1½-2 years)
• The Social Welfare Allocation Committee offers
around 1,000 residential places, mainly small
apartments in blocks but also emergency places.

12. Facts about work being done in
the city to deal with
homelessness
Net cost to the city districts of Individual and Family
Care housing
• Total € 52,5 million 2011 (young persons € 5,1 million, adults
€ 47,4 million)
• Of which 74 per cent is for the purchase of a home/place
• Annual cost increase 3-5%
Purchase of Individual and Family Care housing, City
District – providers
• Total € 40,3 million 2011 (young persons € 3,3 million, adults
€ 37 million)
• 44 per cent within the City Authority, 56 per cent external
• About 10% lack a general agreement

13. Facts about work being
done in the city to deal
with homelessness
• The Social Welfare Allocation Committee
provides support to NGOs working with
homelessness totalling just over € 378 880
for 2012: City mission fieldwork (€ 63 518),
City mission open social activities (€ 19 501),
Räddningsmissionen fieldwork (€ 75 218),
Räddningsmissionen café (€ 34 545), Café
Trappa ner (€ 143 751) and Faktum’s social
activities (€ 44 574).

14. Facts about work
being done in the city
to deal with
homelessness
• The city conducts outreach work in
conjunction with NGOs (City mission and
Räddningsmissionen)
• The Social Welfare Allocation Committee also
funds places in the emergency hostel 35:an
on Linnégatan to the amount of € 356 694 per
year. The hostel is run by
Räddningsmissionen. A place does not
require any assistance decision and is
directed at those who, among other things, do
not want contact with the authorities.

15. A result
• The number of “vagrants” in
Gothenburg – people who sleep
more outdoors than indoors – is
estimated at 88. The number has
not increased in recent years.

16. Challenges – budgetary
priorities for the future
• Co-ordination of city authority
initiatives
• Structured collaboration with the
NGO:s
• A long-term homelessness
strategy needs to be formulated
• Work towards ”housing first” and
floating support