Universalism lost? The magnitude and spatial pattern of residualisation in the public housing sector in Sweden 1993–2012

Abstract

An important feature of the Swedish housing system is universalism, meaning that housing provision should encompass broad income groups and thus not only be directed towards poor households. Considering the recent decades of marketization and liberalisation of the Swedish housing system, concerns have been raised whether universalism remains as a key feature of the Swedish housing system. The aim of this paper is to improve our understanding of processes of residualisation in Sweden. This is a process whereby the public housing sector is becoming dominated by low income households. To describe, analyse and understand processes of residualisation in Sweden and across regions, I use a novel Index of Residualisation and longitudinal register data covering the period 1993–2012. The results indicate that the rental sector as a whole is undergoing a process of residualisation, but that there are clear variations in the magnitude of residualisation across regions. The process of residualisation is most pronounced in sparsely populated regions. The relative size of the public rental sector is a key factor to consider in order to understand the diverging trends. Regions with smaller rental sectors are associated with higher levels of residualisation, indicating that public housing may have the function of social housing in these regions.